Second Chances
by jinkingy
Summary: Before the First Hokage departed, he asked for one last favor. He asked the Leaf to keep Madara alive and allow him to live once more. Maybe he would find his old love for Konoha. After waking up from a coma, he recognizes a familiar pair of white eyes. This girl looked just like his first love, except this new girl's name was Hyuga Hinata, the girl who would change his life again.
1. Prologue

**Madara and Hinata? Um yes please, I need more stories with this ship. But a little note that this is the prologue, Kimura Yuna is the woman that Madara fell in love with, she looks exactly like Hinata. Now after the war, Madara wasn't killed after the extraction of the 10 tails, he was kept alive and he was taken under the care of the Hidden Leaf. The story goes from there and Hinata joins from there as well.**

 **Just clarifying stuff ya know.**

 **Anyways please enjoy this prologue.**

 **Each chapter will be more than 5k words. And I plan on updating once every week or two weeks.**

The strong rivalry between the Senjus and Uchihas has gone on for many years, far too many years if you asked anyone from either side.

They were complete opposites, like the sun and the moon.

The Uchihas were known for their great visual prowess. The infamous Sharingan was their trademark in the Shinobi world.

How was the Sharingan created? Some may say that the Uchihas can bare much greater love than any other. However, once they deal with an intense emotion, a new chakra emerges in the brain that affects the optic nerves. This creates the infamous Sharingan. The Mangekyo Sharingan is awakened after witnessing the death of someone of importance to the Sharingan holder. Such ugly power became a nuisance to the clan and people began to fear the tomoe pattern. The Curse of Hatred was common amongst the members of the Uchiha Clan. They become consumed with hate and possessed with power.

Uchiha Madara attained his Sharingan when he decided to cut his ties with his best friend. He ultimately picked his beloved family over the foolish boy he met at the river. Senju Hashirama was his name. Hashirama was the heir of Madara's rival clan, and he couldn't bare the thought of betraying his younger brothers who all had died at the hands of filthy Senjus. He despised the Senjus for killing his younger three brothers and had to end his ongoing friendship with Hashirama, so he wouldn't hesitate to kill him during battle, which would ultimately one day come.

Madara was 17 years-old when he obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan. It was a story he mostly kept to himself, and one he rarely spoke of. The only person who knew about it was Izuna and his father, and that was because they had dealt with the aftermath of the incident.

The story begins with Kimura Yuna, a young girl that was rumored to have the striking beauty of a goddess. She had milky, pale skin, silky, dark-blue hair, and large, white eyes. However, it was just those eyes of hers that caught everyone's attention. They were completely white, no pupil at the center. Those eyes belonged only to the well-respected Hyuga clan. How this young child attained such eyes was a mystery but she was rarely seen in public. Her parents certainly hid her for many reasons, all of which were for the sake of their precious daughter.

With the enigma surrounding this girl, word traveled fast and far throughout the land.

A person born with such eyes and not bare the last name Hyuga was certainly something unheard of. To have the Byakugan and not work with the Hyuga, who was working with the Senjus, seemed like an ideal package. At least for Uchiha Tajima and for that reason, it caught the attention of Tajima, the father of Madara, and the current head of the Uchiha Clan.

Tajima searched high and low to contact Yuna's parents, and successfully did after a month of searching. He had found out that Yuna's parents were living on a farm and barely managed to make enough money to pay for rent by selling rice. They were certainly a poor family and Tajima pitied them.

When Tajima did manage to contact them, he proposed a surprising offer that they couldn't resist. The Uchiha would buy them land to give them more space to grow rice, give them 15 cows and chickens, build them a new home, and offered protection to the family so long as they gave their daughter to his son, to become his wife in the future. Tajima was a smart man, and even though he could marry the two off now, he couldn't be bothered making marriage arrangements at the moment, he was busy dealing with his rival clan. She was going to be of use during this war, with Byakugan now at their side, he would surely use its powers.

He just wasn't sure when.

The first time Yuna and Madara met, Tajima had sent a few of his men to safely bring the young girl to the Uchiha compound. Here she would stay until she was ready to marry his son, but until then, they were to meet and mingle with each other.

Arranged marriages weren't something uncommon back then. Madara wasn't fascinated with the idea of getting married, and all these secrets of her beauty never excited him. Rumors were rumors, and until he saw the supposed beauty with his own eyes, there was no point in exciting himself. It's not like he should have been excited anyway, he had hundreds of young women crawling at his feet. He's even had offers from mothers offering their daughter to be his concubine.

He always told them no, not because he didn't want to, but he was disgusted by the idea of a woman giving her daughter out like that. He wasn't a prude though, in fact, he was popular amongst the feudal lords' daughters, however, he had no intention of going further besides fucking these young ladies.

Madara was a handsome teenager, and his people knew that he'd only become more attractive when he was a fully grown man.

He was _the_ Uchiha heir, he needed a strong beautiful woman to be by his side and bare him strong children to take his place. A weak woman offering herself like a slave to him did not interest any part of him.

Madara watched his fellow clansmen arrive at the compound with his future wife. It had taken them a full day to bring her back.

He was waiting with his younger brother, Izuna, and his father, Tajima. The clansmen dispersed and one took the liberty to bring the girl to the group of Uchihas.

She was wearing a light grey kimono with a black obi at her tiny waist. Her face was covered with a rag to cover the hidden gem's beauty. All Madara could see was her long dark-blue hair that reached her hip.

The clansman came to a halt with the girl by his side when they stood before the three Uchihas.

Tajima approached the girl and brought his hand to the edge of the rag. In one swift motion, he pulled the rag that was covering her face and dropped it on the floor to his right.

Gasps echoed through the compound, for they weren't the only ones who saw the girl's face. Word had gotten out of her arrival and Uchihas who lived at the compound were peering from the doors to see if the rumors were true.

And sure enough, the rumors were not at all deceitful.

It was all true.

For the first time in 16 years, Madara stood there breathless. He truly was stunned.

Those eyes, there they were. Those big white eyes of hers.

Tajima smiled and caressed the young girl's cheek, "No wonder why your parents hid you from sight. Men would gladly go to war for you."

Yuna flinched away from Tajima's hand, earning a chuckle from him.

She lowered her head and stared at her feet.

"You seem very quiet, I'm sure my son will make good use of you, one way or another," Tajima replied, an evil smirk playing on his lips. He glanced at Madara and motioned him to come closer.

Madara took a step forward, uncertain at first but kept walking anyways until he stood in front of the girl.

"I will leave you two alone for now, show her around our great estate, and don't forget to show her where she will stay," Tajima said before he decided to part ways. He glanced at his fellow people and they all understood the message behind his stubborn stare.

 _Leave them alone._

With that, everyone seemed to disappear behind doors and went on with their daily life. The only ones who remained in place were Yuna and Madara.

Madara gathered his confidence and finally broke the silence that fell between them.

"You really are beautiful!" It came out high pitched and shaky than he had intended it to come out but he quickly spoke, "Er, um, I mean a beautiful face must come with a beautiful name right?" He asked, slightly flustered.

She didn't reply, she kept quiet and continued to stare at her toes as if they were the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. She kept herself busy by playing with the hem of her sleeve. He wasn't even sure if she heard him.

"Do you not have a name?" Madara asked, leaning a little closer. His intentions were purely innocent but she looked up at the boy and her eyes widened. She quickly took a few steps away from him and her eyes returned to her toes again. Madara furrowed his brows and crossed his arms over his chest. If they were to be married when they got older, why wouldn't she speak to him? A little acknowledgment would satisfy him.

"You do have a name right?" He questioned her.

She nodded, finally giving him some sort of acknowledgment.

"Well at least I know you have a name," He joked but it wasn't well received on the other end. He bit his lip and tried to think of something else to say. She wasn't giving him many options but after a few seconds of deep thought, he finally thought of something. "Are you hungry? I think the maids made something for your arrival. I'm not sure what it is but it had shrimp!"

She immediately shook her head, almost repulsed by the idea of what he just said.

"What? Are you not hungry? Or you don't like shrimp" And when he mentioned the word shrimp again, she shook her head.

 _Oh, I guess she must not like shrimp…_

Then another thought settled into the young heir's mind.

 _Great, I know she doesn't like shrimp, but I don't even know her name?_

He sulked for a minute, almost like his old buddy Hashirama, thinking about why his father had planned such a poorly arranged marriage agreement. This young girl, so beautiful, held herself glued together so tightly. If she'd only relax a bit, it'd make this arrangement so much easier for the both of them.

"Since you won't speak to me, I'm just going to show you to your room and let you be," he grunted. He was slightly irritated by the lack of communication and figured he'd deal with this nonsense another day. He took a few steps and noticed that she wasn't following him.

He turned back and glared at her. Even though she wasn't looking at him, she still felt his cold stare and hurried towards him quickly, accidentally bumping into him.

"I-I'm so s-sorry!" She gasped, quickly bowing her head lower than it should have been.

He smiled at her hopelessly, his irritation slightly fading away.

"You finally spoke," he commented. She stood up straight but kept her gaze on the floor. Her face became a little flushed and she'd hope he wouldn't notice. She nodded, it was her way of responding to what he had just said.

"Why are you so quiet?" He questioned her.

She opened her mouth to begin to speak but she immediately closed it. He took note that she must've been the type who couldn't muster out any words due to their shyness. He believed it would take her awhile to get comfortable enough to speak what was on her mind.

"I-I just hope this agreement keeps my-my family safe," she confessed.

It had caught him off guard, disproving his previous thoughts.

He laid his hand on her shoulder and she perked up. Her head flew up and her eyes made contact with the ones in front of her. It was the first time he made eye contact with Yuna, and for some reason, staring into her white eyes for a while almost made them seem lavender.

He smiled a confident, big smile. "I promise you, under the care of the Uchiha, they'll be safe. I, Uchiha Madara, promise you that."

And from that day on, Yuna followed Madara everywhere he went. She was like a puppy following its mother, wherever he went, she went. Of course, sometimes he had to scare her off. There were instances where he'd need to go pee and she wouldn't get the hint to leave. The young heir wasn't able to take a leak with someone standing behind him so he'd threaten to turn around. She would run as fast as she could back to the compound where he would find her hiding in her room, blushing like crazy.

Yuna wouldn't speak to anyone else besides Madara, and she barely even spoke to the Uchiha. She'd mumble a couple of words a day and that would be all. For some reason, Madara was able to understand the girl, even with the lack of words she managed to spit out. Since she spoke so little, he made an extra effort to read her movements and he soon began to get a hang of it. She furrowed her brows whenever she never understood something, she stared at her toes whenever she was nervous, she would play with her shirt when she was hungry, and she would twiddle her fingers whenever she was happy.

After a few months, she was comfortable enough to speak a few sentences every here and there. Whenever he was lucky, she would even laugh.

One evening while Yuna and Madara were sitting outside the courtyard eating dinner, Yuna spoke up.

"M-Madara-sama…" She began.

Madara nearly spat out the dango he was munching on. He had never expected the young girl to initiate a conversation.

"Just call me Madara, please," He set his plate aside, "Anyways, what's the matter?"

If this was truly the man she was going to marry, she wouldn't make him wait until his deathbed to find out her name.

"Yuna."

"Yuna?" Madara repeated.

"That day you asked for my name..."

"Oh yeah, I did. That was like a few months ago though," Madara laughed nervously, "It's actually quite a beautiful name. It suits you well."

Yuna lowered her head, hoping she could hide her blushed cheeks with the curtain of her hair.

Yuna honestly thought he was a fool.

But, fools were easily trusted and liked.

After 10 months, Yuna was able to open up to Madara. She was able to see past the Uchiha name and found that there was a boy who was much different. He wasn't so stubborn, he wasn't all that serious, and he couldn't deal with jokes well but she found he had a heart of pure gold. He was kind and sweet at times but he was a boy who never spoke much words when it came to his emotions. He had to suppress any and all emotions he had, he couldn't be weakened by anything. He was a proud Shinobi of his clan and had to do what must be done, even if it pained him. Not to mention he held the last name Uchiha and for that, he was held accountable for much more. This young man held the future of the Uchiha on his shoulders, and he would carry this burden until the day he died.

Yuna finally understood this, and she decided she would be by his side, to carry this burden with him.

The two teens laid beside each other on the grass, peering up at the clear sky.

It was a beautiful day, and Madara finally was able to make time to see Yuna. He had been so busy for the last couple of weeks, he had no spare time to see his beloved fiancé. Things weren't the way they used to be a year ago. He was now 17 years old, and the pressure of the Uchiha Clan had become heavier and heavier on his shoulders. His father planned on retiring around his 18th birthday, which was only 13 months away.

She was 16, turning 17 in a couple of weeks.

He was afraid he might miss her birthday so he took the opportunity to see her just in case.

"Must you go?" Yuna questioned.

Madara turned his head to look at the dark-blue haired beauty.

He thought carefully for a second and responded, "My father is thinking about stepping down soon. That means the day where I'm announced the head of the clan is coming soon, so I must prove myself at war to be worthy of such a title."

"I-I know that but perhaps there's another way to prove yourself worthy? If you risk so much during war, you might…" Yuna trailed off her thought, she felt her throat become dry and couldn't muster out another word. It pained her to think of such a thing.

Madara smiled to himself. "I'll make sure to stay alive. Just for my dad, my brother, my clan," he paused," and for you, Yuna."

Words that were meant to reassure Yuna only left her feeling even more worried.

"Why don't you accept that Senju's offer? Hashirama-sama wasn't it? He doesn't want to fight anymore, maybe if you guys just-"

"Yuna, Hashirama is a fool who speaks nonsense. He's an ignoramus who believes in unrealistic ideals. He knows nothing of the real world and never will. He acts like an immature brat and has no right to offer bullshit to me. I'd rather be caught dead than shake his pathetic hands," Madara quickly spat, angered by hearing his beloved Yuna saying Hashirama's name.

Yuna remained quiet.

Madara regretted saying such things to Yuna but it was the truth. She needed to understand this and he wasn't going to sugarcoat it for her.

Still, he felt guilty for speaking to her in such a way.

He rolled over to his side and wrapped his arm around her waist and swung his leg over her thighs. She immediately gasped and tried to release herself from his grip but he wouldn't let go.

"M-Madara-kun we're outside, this is completely inappropriate behavior…"

"I'm sorry Yuna. It's just that I don't want you to be mixed in with the likes of _them_ ," and by them, Madara really meant Hashirama. "If something were to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

All he had left was Izuna, and Yuna, and he'd kill a thousand men to protect either one of them.

Yuna caressed his cheek with her hand, gazing at him with care and fear in her white eyes.

She whispered, "I won't let them hurt you."

He placed his hand on top of hers, his thumb rubbing against the ring he had given her. It was their engagement ring. They were finally getting married in a year and both of them were excited about it. Yuna was excited to permanently stay by Madara's side for the rest of her life and start a family of her own.

Suddenly a fellow clansman came rushing to the scene.

"Madara-sama! Forgive me to barge in on you like this but I have terrible news."

Madara's eyebrow twitched, something that hadn't something since he dealt with the fool Hashirama.

"What is it?" He asked, unwrapping himself from Yuna and sitting up. He was now slightly irritated from being disturbed and he was hoping he wasn't just being bothered by nonsense.

"We've just gotten news that the Senjus are planning an attack just westward from the estate in a few hours. It seems they're going to defeat whoever we have stationed there and make their way to the compound," the clansman reported, still short of breath.

Madara immediately stood up, "Get every man available and send them that way. Leave about 20 of the men here to take care of this place whilst we're gone just in case. I want you to get Izuna and notify the rest of the people. Send an immediate message to my father, and tell him I'm going to see him immediately go console him, I need the strongest men at the frontline. If they're attacking us in our own home, I presume the strongest they have will be assisting."

Yuna had never seen Madara when he was taking lead. He was awfully calm and managed to think of a starting plan within a matter of seconds.

 _Madara, you really are amazing!_

The clansman immediately left and Madara turned to Yuna. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Please, go with Mayumi-san, she'll take you where you need to be. You must absolutely not leave where you are, stay put. I cannot stress this enough, I need to see you alive when I return," Madara conceded.

Then Madara disappeared within seconds.

She had no choice but to listen to him.

She quickly stood up and made her way to the Uchiha compound. There she found every woman and child rushing to get somewhere. They all acted calmly but there was an eerie feeling of terror in the air. They all may have seemed composed but in the inside, they were all freaking out.

Men were running with their weapons, one by one they all seemed to disappear.

She continued her search for Mayumi. She searched everywhere, she looked in the kitchen, she looked at the main dining room, she look in the bathrooms, she looked in the farm, but she just couldn't find Mayumi.

Mayumi was a personal maid of Madara. She was very trusted among the higher ranks of the Uchiha since she's worked with them for 30+ years. She was a sweet 50 year-old woman who could do no wrong. She was very welcoming and took on a motherly role for Yuna while she was here. Madara trusted Mayumi so much, he even left his precious future wife in her hands.

Frustrated, Yuna closed her eyes, "Bya-"

"Oh there you child, come on quickly we must go!" Mayumi's voice caught Yuna off guard and she quickly opened her eyes before she could activate her forbidden technique.

Her mother had banned her from using it, as it would cause too much attention to her daughter. Not that she didn't cause enough attention on her own.

Mayumi grabbed her by the hand and dragged Yuna to follow her. She dragged her off the compound and up a little hill.

 _Why aren't we hiding with everyone else?_

Mayumi kept her grip tight and never looked back. Yuna could sense something from Mayumi, something that was a little off. Yuna had never seen Mayumi act this way, it was as if she was nervous or worried. They traveled up the hill for a good 15 minutes until they reached a small shack. It was a rotting wooden shack that even had moss growing on the wooden planks. It was small and there were no windows on it. Mayumi, with a couple of hand seals, deactivated the seal that kept the place locked. They entered the shack and Mayumi slid the door closed but she didn't lock it with the hand seals again.

Mayumi finally spoke, "These are Lord Madara's orders. You must stay here until Lord Madara returns for you."

Then Yuna caught on.

 _She didn't reseal the shack because she wasn't going to stay. She was going to return to the compound with others and seal me in here. But why...why would Madara order such a thing?_

 _"_ Mayumi no…please don't leave," Yuna begged.

"These are the young lord's orders. I must obey. I have other orders I must do, so I have to go," Mayumi sighed, she placed her hand on Yuna's shoulder and smiled sweetly, "I'll see you later child. They won't get rid of me just yet." She backed away and gave Yuna one last look before she stepped out the shack and closed the door.

Yuna couldn't hear anything after that, she must've resealed the place.

Yuna didn't want to admit to herself that she was afraid but thing was, she really was afraid. She feared what would happen if the Senju successfully made their way to the compound, there were so many children and women there hiding. She also worried for Madara, she was hoping he wouldn't do anything reckless.

Madara and his men were just a mile away from the compound, they've decided to go for an ambush approach, and were waiting for a couple of hours behind high trees. Tajima decided to go with some more men and wait up ahead and had Madara stay back just in case they needed to fall back.

Yet it's been nothing but silence.

The sounds of birds chirping and the wind whistling was all they heard. They were absolutely quiet, none of them dared to make a noise that would reveal their positions.

Madara was becoming annoyed.

 _What is taking them so damn long? Weren't they going to attack? What the fuck happened? Did Hashirama's old man decide to suddenly retreat?_

Suddenly one of the men from his father's group was heading their way. He was relaxed, so Madara wasn't alarmed.

"Lord Madara, there have been no signs of any movement from up ahead. Your father wants to know what you want to do." The man reported.

A distant cousin of Madara, named Hiroki, suddenly spoke up, "Well what the fuck? Were they not coming this way?"

A loud sound of an explosion boomed.

Then an immediate thought popped into Madara's head. His eyes widened and he felt his stomach drop to the floor.

He yelled to his men, "This was just a diversion! Everyone head back to the compound! Immediately!"

Madara quickly ran back home. The Senjus were definitely clever and they fooled him.

They were using this mix-up to attack the compound from another direction. They knew most of the men would leave the Uchiha compound and they'd strike for the family and kids.

Madara cursed himself for leaving only 20 men behind. He knew he should've left more but he couldn't risk it. His faulty error may have cost the lives of children and wives and now Madara was fueled with anger.

They'd pay for making a fool of him.

She sat alone in the rotting shack, waiting for Madara. It had been a few hours and he hadn't returned. She slowly grew more impatient and worried. The more time she was stuck in the awfully small shack, the more she was losing her mind. Yuna slowly felt her heartbeat pace faster as her mind drifted off with many images and scenarios of what could be going on outside. She felt her body heat up and she began to sweat. The walls seemed to be slowly closing in on her and it made her panic even more. She had to get out of the shack, even if it was against his wishes. Perhaps she could do something to help.

She abruptly felt a weird sensation, something almost dreadful on the outside.

She stood up and the feeling became worse.

Something was coming.

She couldn't put a finger on it, but something nasty was headed their way.

With no other option left, Yuna closed her eyes and relaxed.

"Byakugan," she yelled, opening her eyes as soon as the word rolled off her tongue.

She looked all around her until she found the source of the dreadful feeling. A group of hundred men was heading their way just a little east of where she was. They were clearly headed for the Uchiha estate.

 _Oh no..._

Acting on impulse, Yuna gathered chakra into her fists and slammed her fist into the door.

This only caused her to fly back and slam her back against the wall.

It was the damn seal.

Reminding herself of what her old shishou taught her, she gathered herself and headed back towards the door.

She remembered the hand seals Mayumi had made when she unsealed the door.

 _If she unsealed it with boar, tiger, and bird, then all I have to do is…_

Yuna quickly made the boar, tiger, and bird hand seals.

Now that she hoped she unsealed the door, she grabbed the door and it slid open with ease.

With her Byakugan still activated, she went running towards the direction of the mob of men.

As she ran she thought of what she could do. She had only learned a couple of jutsus by her shishou, and she wasn't sure if any of them were any good such an uneven battle.

 _One versus a hundred? I'll be obliterated, it won't give the others enough time to prepare!_

She kept trying to think of a plan, whilst running towards an uncertain death. Without a plan, she would certainly be killed, she needed to think.

There were so many trees, she nearly knocked herself out with the branches that had grown low.

 _All these trees…_

Then an idea had appeared in her mind.

She might not have been able to fight them directly, but she could use the environment around them to hold them off.

She stopped running once she had herself between the imposing enemies and the Uchiha compound. Then enemies were still a few kilometers away so she had enough time to barely set up.

She deactivated her Byakugan. Creating a few hand seals, Yuna finished off with the tiger seal, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

This was something she spent the last year learning under the training of Madara. Madara had kept this a secret from everyone else but every other day they'd head over to a nearby lake, and he would ruthlessly teach Yuna how to do the very famous Uchiha move.

It wasn't impossible to learn, a few non-Uchihas were able to pull it off so long as you trained your butt off for it which is why Madara showed her no mercy during training. It also helped that she had fire nature.

She wasn't able to get it to the size of his fireball, but she was able to get it to a decent size.

Everything in front of her caught on fire, and but it ought to hold them off for a while. It would take five minutes before the flames traveled back to the incoming enemies.

If she were to become Madara's wife, she needed to hold her own. She didn't want to be some weak wife who did nothing but watch the birds sing, she wanted to be helpful and protect the clan she had grown to love.

Yuna watched the flames get bigger and she decided to head back to let the others know.

Suddenly a kunai was thrown at her, scraping her arm slightly before it found its way to the trunk of a tree. Her hand immediately covered the spot that was now bleeding.

Had they caught up already?

"Byakguan," she activated her kekkai genkai but before she could use it the way she planned to, another kunai was thrown at her, digging into her thigh.

She fell to the floor with a loud yelp, something that came involuntarily. Maybe she wasn't as fast as she thought she was. Perhaps they had already caught up.

"Oh, so this is the Madara's precious Byakugan wife, eh?" A man's voice pondered.

Yuna pulled herself together, and through the pain, she stood up. It wasn't so graceful but managed to get up on her two feet. She slowly began to pour the rest of her chakra to her hands and releasing it into the shape of two lions, one on each fist.

However, this only lasted for a few seconds before she fell back down. She deactivated her Byakugan. She was becoming weaker and weaker, and she wasn't strong enough to hold the technique. She had never used it in battle before but forgot how much it drained her.

"Yuna!"

She picked up her head but not on her own, she felt a hand cradle underneath her head. She opened her eyes and a small smile appeared.

"Madara-kun…"

"I told you to stay put, why didn't you listen to me?" He growled, scanning her body. She was injured and needed medical help immediately.

"I needed to stop them…" Yuna raggedly breathed.

"You never listen to me Yuna, this is what happens when you don't listen to me," his voice was calm but she knew that he was worried.

Madara slowly laid her back down on the floor. He needed to finish this enemy off quickly so he could quickly take her back to the compound.

Madara eyed the man, taking note that he was no Senju. He was a man from the Uzumaki clan. His distinguishable red hair gave it away. Still, he was no match for the Uchiha, Madara would wipe him out in a second.

The man threw a couple of kunais at Madara, all which he blocked with his own kunai. Madara made a couple of hand seals and out came fire shaped into a sea of flame. This was Madara's Great Fire Annihilation, one of the fire release techniques that the Uchiha had.

The man also made a couple of hand seals and a sea of water came out from his mouth. He counterattacked Madara's jutsu with an equally strong jutsu that worked against his fire nature. They would cancel each other out.

Since they canceled out, steam was all that was left. Madara stood still, trying to locate the man underneath all the steam. He was a sensory ninja but he was still a young teenager that needed much experience.

When he was about to take a step, he realized that he couldn't. It was as if he was completely paralyzed. Even with Madara's strength, he was unable to move.

Madara wondered if that had been a part of his plan, to counterattack with water so that the steam would hide him afterward.

The Uchiha heir heard the sound of a sword being wielded and he believed it was coming at him.

Then he heard the sound of a sword piercing skin, the noise of gushing blood followed after.

The steam slowly began to fade away and Madara was able to see little by little.

There was a dark body in front of him.

As the steam disappeared, the body became apparent and he knew who it was.

Yuna.

His mind began to process what had just happened.

The sound of a sword.

Piercing skin.

Blood.

Coughing.

Yuna!

His eyes fell on her back, and when he saw the tip of the sword protruding from her back. The scene made his heart skip a beat and he became light-headed.

His eyes were open wide, and his mouth was no different.

"Madara, I…" Yuna choked out, "I told you I wouldn't let them hurt you..."

"Yuna…" He croaked.

Her body went limp and she fell to the floor.

He let out a blood-curdling scream. All Madara could see now was red.

His head began to hurt and he fell to his knees. He closed his eyes and pulled his hair. He had a strange feeling in his heart, it was painful and throbbing, and it wouldn't go away. He couldn't understand this pain and it only angered him even more.

"Yuna…" He cried, feeling his heart break into a million pieces as he said her name. "We were supposed to get married next year! Why are you _leaving_ me!?" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

She was too young to die, too innocent. She wasn't supposed to be one lying by dead on the floor, she was supposed to be alive and breathing. She was supposed to be in hiding, protecting their hopes and dreams.

She was supposed to be there for him.

And now she was gone.

She left him behind.

Madara looked up at the man who caused all of this.

 _That isn't the normal Sharingan pattern,_ the Uzumaki thought to himself.

He had a new pair of eyes, these were not the Sharingan eyes he had before. These were completely different.

They were more ominous, they were darker than before.

 _So this is the Mangekyou Sharingan..._

"I'll kill you," Madara hissed through gritted teeth. He slowly stood up, his eyes never leaving the Uzumaki man.

That night, Madara went on a rampage, nearly killing himself in the process. Izuna and Tajima were the only people to stop him, if anyone else had tried, Madara was more than willing to end their life.

Izuna always said he had never been the same after that night.

The night that Madara lost his world.


	2. Chapter 1

_"_ _Meeting you was not the first day of the rest of my life; it was the first day of the best of my life." –Dr. Steve Maraboli_

"He hasn't woken up?"

"I'm afraid so. It's so strange. His vitals have been stable and he's fully recovered, it's just a matter of time before he wakes up."

"Is there a chance he won't wake up?"

"A chance? To be honest with you Lord Hokage, there's a seventy-five percent chance that he will never wake up. Shizune-sama and I are hoping for the best."

The Rokudaime sighed, leaning back in his stiff chair. He was slightly irritated, not at the pink haired kunoichi in front of him, but at the way things had been going lately. The road to recovery from the war was much more difficult than he had anticipated. His desk was covered with thick paperwork that towered over him, if someone walked in, they wouldn't be able to see the Hokage behind the stacks of reports and files. The news his former student had just brought him just piled onto the rest of things that made his life troublesome. They needed _that_ man wide awake soon. It was a special favor asked by the First Hokage, right before he departed with the rest of the former Hokages. Hatake Kakashi was in shock at first, simply because it seemed impossible to do, but they've kept the man somewhat alive for the last eight months, and it bought them some time to figure out what to do with him.

That sly Uchiha Madara, he just caused trouble even if he did it on purpose or not.

Haruno Sakura waited for further instruction. Her shishou had given her the order to go report the current data they had on Madara to the Hokage.

Kakashi simply gave her a hopeless smile, leaning forward in his seat, "Well keep trying, and don't give up."

She nodded, "Of course Lord Sixth." She was about to excuse herself when Kakashi began to speak again.

"Please, just call me like you used to Sakura-chan, I always tell you this. Oh and take Hinata with you when you return. I want her to take a look at some stuff with her eyes. Her father was doing the checkups but he's currently not in the village. I can't risk not checking Madara at least once a day."

She inwardly smiled to herself, it was such a Kakashi thing to do, to always be extremely precautious. Her sensei was still the same old, droopy-eyed pervert she knew back then. Now that he was the Sixth Hokage, he was much more stern and serious. Yet, everything he said, Sakura knew he said it with love and pride.

She finally excused herself and left the building.

It had been eight months since the war ended and all of the Five Great Nations were still suffering its outcomes. Even though they won the war and defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki and deactivated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, each nation dealt with many casualties. Thousands of people died, many were still suffering, nations lost a lot of money from the investment of the war, and cities and the environment were destroyed to unrecognizable pits of destruction. It was a war that was never before seen and many were still dealing with the aftershock of the experience. The Kages had only met once after the war ended and that was only to discuss how to clean up the mess that the war left. None of them really had an idea but they all concluded to let each village deal with their problems individually. Of course, if they needed any assistance from any of the great villages, they'd gladly agree to help. Now that they had an alliance, and Naruto had changed the heart of thousands of people, the future of the Shinobi world was expected to head in a good direction.

However, their beginning would prove a little bit more difficult than they had hoped for.

Back then, Kakashi knew that he was the next candidate to be Hokage. He only hoped that when Senju Tsunade stepped down and passed on the torch to Kakashi, it would've been later than sooner.

He let out a small groan and sank back into his chair.

 _I missed when things used to be much simpler. Sometimes I wish I was able freely read my books._

The door to his office suddenly opened and Nara Shikamaru walked in with another stack of papers.

"Shizune-san is coming in with the rest," Shikamaru said.

Kakashi let out a big groan.

* * *

"Trust me, when I'm Hokage-"

Aburame Shino immediately interrupted his comrade, "You can't become Hokage. The reason is because Naruto is next in line to become Hokage, unless you somehow become a jinchuriki and learn another jutsu, I deem that impossible for you."

Inuzuka Kiba rolled his eyes, muttering some inaudible words about his dissenting bug buddy.

Standing between her two friends, Hinata, let out a small giggle.

She was used to her comrades arguing, especially when Kiba began speaking about farfetched ideas. Shino wasn't afraid to verbalize his reasonable thoughts on the matter but Kiba would never listen. He'd start a little speech about how he was going to become Hokage before Naruto and that he was training twice as hard as before. Akamaru would just whimper and nudge his partner's leg, as if he were saying 'stop kidding around.'

If this were happening five years ago, she would have been quietly pleading with them to stop fighting. Now, at the age of 17, she found herself enjoying the small bickering of her old teammates. They would always be her precious boys from Team 8, the ones she could eternally trust and depend on. Without Hyuga Neji by her side, they would fill that empty spot in her heart. Shino and Kiba were more protective and they were literally there for her every second of the day. She could almost see them as brothers, but she kept that to herself. She didn't want to put such a burden on them with that title.

"Anyways," Kiba groaned, ending their last argument, "I haven't seen that fool in a while. Where has Naruto been?"

Hinata perked up when she heard Naruto's name mentioned. She missed the blue-eyed boy miserably but he was currently off on a mission in the Hidden Sand. As of lately, Naruto and Hinata were starting to get closer, she was able to speak to him more comfortably. By comfortably, she stopped stuttering around him, a habit that she finally got rid of. They were able to have conversations and enjoy themselves without the help of anyone else. Hinata believed that one day, Naruto would finally acknowledge her, and she had a good feeling that the time will be soon.

"He'll be back soon, won't he?" Shino curiously asked.

"Two months, the latest," Kiba grunted, a hint of distaste in his voice.

Hinata frowned slightly, an expression of disappointment appearing on her face. She wondered if Naruto had missed her just as much as she missed him.

 _Probably not…_

"He thinks he can save the world and just leave us?" Kiba grumbled under his breath.

"It has been eight months since the war ended. Naruto is not obligated to stay in Konoha. As a war hero he must keep his connections with the other Great Villages-"

"War hero? If I wasn't caught in the damn genjutsu, I would've taken Madara down easily," Kiba cut in.

 _Madara…_

Hinata grimaced at the thought of the Uchiha's name. She couldn't help but dig her fingernails into her palms.

He was the man who that plotted the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The man who plotted the Ten Tails to be summoned. The man who caused Neji's death.

An unforgivable man in Hinata's pale eyes. Yet, he was a man she couldn't bother to hate. No place in her heart could harbor the extreme emotion of hatred.

Ever since the war ended, Hinata had recurring nightmares about the war. She found it strange because every time she had a nightmare, it was always the same exact one. It would start with her laying in a tub naked, with her whole body submerged and her head barely peeking out of the water. The water in the tub was murky but it was filled with red flower petals. She'd be at ease, almost content. Then she'd hear screaming. It was all the screams she heard during the war, the wounded begging for help, and the Shinobi's battle cries. The tub's water began to turn red and it was now filled with blood. She felt someone push her head down underneath the blood and she'd start to drown. The tub disappeared and she was suddenly fully clothed in her standard Konoha uniform. She was running through a pile of dead bodies of family and friends. She couldn't stop as much as she wanted to, her legs kept moving forcingly. Then she'd be facing towards the Ten Tails, ready to use her body to protect Naruto. That's when the image of Neji sacrificing his body to protect her replayed in her mind. It'd last for a while until Neji finally fell to the floor. She turned back to Naruto and he'd be lying lifelessly on the floor with Neji. He was cover in thousands of rods, similar to the ones Pain used. Completely paralyzed, her eyes found their way back up to the man on top of the Ten Tails. She would stare into his Rinnegan until his mouth began to open, as if he were about to speak.

Finally that's where she'd wake up, her body drowned in her own sweat.

Yet, when he looked into the eyes that glared back at her, she saw something strange.

She saw pain. A lot of it.

 _His eyes, they were so empty yet so full of hurt and misery. Had there been something before-_

"Hey! Hinata-chan!"

Hinata snapped out of her thoughts and her head turned to the source of the voice. She had been somewhat grateful that she'd been removed from her thoughts, it was almost as if she was trying to explain to herself that the man had felt some sort of other emotion. He was a monster, he had no emotions.

It was Sakura.

Hinata smiled, "Hello Sakura-chan," stopping in her tracks, Kiba and Shino followed her lead.

"Are you busy? The Hokage wants you to join me at the hospital," Sakura said.

"Hospital? May I ask for what?" Hinata was confused, she had no business at the Leaf's hospital.

"I'm not allowed to give details in public but I'll tell you once we get there," Sakura grabbed Hinata's hand without waiting for a response and pulled her along. Hinata didn't protest since it was the Hokage's orders.

She turned back and waved at Shino and Kiba, with an apologetic expression. They understood what she meant and they bid her farewell.

Sakura and Hinata walked side by side as they headed toward the hospital. Hinata hadn't seen Sakura in a couple of weeks, since she was dealing with the outcome of the war, she had many patients. The hospital had become her second home and surprisingly she wasn't complaining. Tsunade has been helping out at the hospital and that on its own made Sakura's life much easier. She began to tell Hinata about all the injuries she's been encountering and insisted on having Hinata volunteer some time. Hinata politely refused as she hadn't been practicing her chakra control like she used to and she wouldn't be much help. She also denied it because since the war and her nightmares, she'd been afraid of seeing blood. She didn't admit that last part though.

Hinata began to inform Sakura on how she'd been busy the last few weeks as well. She took turns with Shino and Kiba to take care of Murai while Kurenai took on low ranked missions. Murai was at the age where she didn't need her mother at her side every second and Kurenai needed the money to support themselves. She'd also been spending time training, even getting some help from Rock Lee on taijutsu training. The thing that occupied her time the most was Hyuga affairs. Her father had kept her busy to support the heiress of the clan whenever she needed to leave the village to meet with other clans. It's not like she needed to go, but Hanabi begged her older sister to go with her. Hanabi also begged to train with her so Hinata had to take some time out of her day to give Hanabi a good sparring match.

"She's very stubborn nowadays," Hinata concluded, about a sparring match with Hanabi in which Hinata had won.

Sakura laughed, "She's full of energy isn't she?"

The Hyuga Princess nodded, joining the pink haired kunoichi in her giggles.

Hinata enjoyed Sakura's company. Back then in their genin days, Hinata was confused about Sakura. She didn't understand Sakura for the fact that she ignored Naruto and put him down at times, something Hinata would never dream to do. She didn't have any bad feelings towards the pinkette but she couldn't comprehend anything about her. She wanted to catch the attention of Naruto and never understood how Sakura could do it so effortlessly. All she could do was look at Naruto and he'd be gushing over her. Hinata wanted that, she wanted that attention from him. Now at her current age, all she wanted was Naruto to acknowledge her. That's all. She wasn't confused about Sakura anymore and she found Sakura to be a good childhood friend.

* * *

They made it to the front of the hospital when they found Guy, Lee, and Tenten in front as well. Tenten was pushing Guy's wheelchair while Lee was doing a handstand with two fingers. A typical Team 9 type of scene if you asked anyone from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Tenten and Lee were helping their sensei recover after his battle with Madara.

"That's it, Lee! Let the power of youth explode your senses! No other time is the right time besides this moment!" Guy shouted, a giant smile plastered on his face.

Lee began to quicken the pace of his handstand push-ups, "Inspiring words Guy-sensei!"

Hinata and Sakura stood speechless, after all these years, they should have been used to such things, but they weren't.

"Hello Guy-sensei, how are you feeling?" Hinata politely asked, genuinely concerned about the state of the jounin's health.

"The power of youth has kept me thriving! I'll be back to running 5,000 laps around the village in no time!" Guy yelled, triumphantly.

Tenten sighed, "It's been like this every morning, don't worry they'll have a little handstand race in the next five minutes, you guys should stay-" Tenten stopped speaking as she noticed a poof a smoke coming from their direction. She frowned, they had ditched her to deal with her old teammates on her own.

Sakura dragged Hinata inside the hospital before Hinata could accept Tenten's offer. She was too kind to say no but Sakura, on the other hand, knew Tenten would be able to manage on her own. She has been able to after all these years with those two men.

Hinata waited for Sakura while she went to go chat with the receptionist really quickly. She grabbed a pen and wrote something down on a clipboard and said another word before she joined Hinata again.

They began walking again, this time through the hospital hallways. Still clueless about the sudden order of her presence, Hinata nervously asked.

"H-hey Sakura-chan, why am I needed here?"

Sakura didn't bother to look at her friend but she answered, "Your eyes," she clarified, "well your Byakugan. We have a special patient that needs to be checked over with your Byakugan every day. Your father has been doing it every day but he's out of the village at the moment with your sister. The Hokage wants you to do it because he doesn't want to wait for your father to return. He's just being precautionary. Don't worry it won't take much time."

"Oh alright," Hinata replied, she was content with the kunoichi's answer.

Sakura continued talking anyway, "Don't let your guard down. He isn't just any patient."

Hinata turned her head to Sakura, a little bit worried now. She continued walking but couldn't help but mutter out a word, "He?"

Sakura nodded and added, "Uchiha Madara. He was supposed to be dead and I'm not going to lie, I wish he was dead, but the First Hokage had asked the village to keep him alive. He wanted Madara to have a new life, start fresh. We figured out a way to keep him alive ever since the extraction of the Ten-Tails but he hasn't woken up. We removed Hashirama's cells from his body so he isn't as powerful now."

Hinata's heart began to quicken its pace and she became a little more frightened about checking this patient, even if it were for a minute. She feared this man, he was in her recurring nightmares, she didn't want to go through with this.

"W-Why isn't he being held in the Konoha Intelligence Division?" Hinata exclaimed, but it seemed like a normal question because Hinata could never raise her voice at a friend.

"He's already been checked by Ibiki-san. They got all the information out of him. Plus, starting fresh isn't exactly waking up in a cell. He's being restrained by chakra chains and he is also being watched by the Anbu every single second of the day. It's not like he's awake either," Sakura finished.

Hinata began to relax.

 _He's still unconscious...that's good._

Hinata was terribly conflicted. She was terrified at the thought of making eye contact again with the monster. He should have been dead, repaying his sins in hell where he belonged. But another part of her was somewhat proud that the village officials allowed this man back to restart a life. Those thoughts were safely hidden but she still felt that the situation was odd. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the Hokage would let a war villain sleep in a public hospital bed. She almost felt dumb, of course, they would have taken major precautionary steps to let that man even inside the village. Hinata felt bad for doubting them, almost questioning their sanity. They knew more than she did anyway, she was too quick to judge.

They continued walking through halls and another flight of stairs. They made it to a level she had never seen before, it seemed to appear out of nowhere.

At the end of the hall, there were two Anbu men standing outside a door.

 _There! He's in that one!_

Hinata began to feel nervous again. Her legs began to tremble and as they got closer to the door, her legs felt like jello. All she could hear was the pounding of heart inside her head and it was annoyingly loud. On the outside, you could see what was going on as well. Hinata was easy to read according to everyone, and she was sure that if anyone looked at her right now, they'd read her like a children's book.

They were now at the front of the door.

"Afternoon Haruno-san," one of the Anbu men said.

"Who's this?" The other one asked.

"This is Hyuga Hinata. She's the daughter of Hyuga Hiashi. Hokage-sama asked for her assistance," Sakura replied.

The same Anbu who asked about Hinata's presence bowed his head, "Ah, forgive me Hyuga-san."

"No it's alright," Hinata was flustered and waved her hands dismissively.

Both men stepped to the side and allowed the girls entry.

Sakura slowly pushed the door and went inside, holding the door open for Hinata to join her.

She hesitantly stepped inside and her eyes wandered the room until they saw the unconscious body on the hospital bed.

She was a bit stunned at first, how such a strong man was lying unconscious and powerless in a bed. True to what Sakura said, his wrists and ankles were wrapped in chakra chains. They didn't completely immobilize him, it looked like they only chained him so he wouldn't leave the bed. It seemed like he was able to move his arms and legs freely.

"Uchihas are quite beautiful men when they aren't glaring at you or trying to destroy something," Sakura sighed.

"Y-yeah," Hinata softly whispered. She felt her cheeks heating up because Sakura was right, Uchihas were impressively handsome even though they weren't necessarily her type. Hinata kept her eyes on the man on the bed. She lost the stiffness in her body when she saw that he really was still in a coma.

He was laying on his back, his hair completely out of the way. She finally managed to get a good look of his face. He had a very nice jawline, a strong nose, and bags under his eyes. He was still handsome either way, even if it looked like he had no sleep. Perhaps the last eight months of ongoing sleep would have gotten rid of them. He wasn't that tall from what she could see, but she could tell he had a toned body, she knew he couldn't lack women.

 _They really are beautiful men…_

She followed Sakura's lead as she led them closer to the bed.

"Hokage-same just wants you to check his chakra network, make sure everything is fine," Sakura ushered.

"Alright, I'll start checking-"

"Oh, that reminds me!" Sakura interrupted, "I have to ask the Anbu guards for the reports. I'll be outside so just do your thing," she smiled and left Hinata alone.

Alone with _him._

She frowned ever so slightly and huffed.

 _He's unconscious, and he's held by chains, he can't do anything to me._

She let her palm rest on her forehead and mumbled, "What am I doing? He's been unconscious for the last eight months, he's not going to wake up now."

She walked closer so she was now beside the bed. Hinata closed her eyes and relaxed.

"Byakugan," she huffed, opening her eyes as soon as the word rolled off her tongue.

Her eyes roamed over his body, inspecting all the links to his chakra network. To her surprise, everything was fine, nothing was wrong. Until her eyes reached his neck, there was a bit of a disturbance in that chakra link. She recognized the spot where it was at, a special pressure point. She just needed to press some chakra into it and his chakra link would go back to normal. She positioned herself so her hand was next to his neck to hold herself up while she leaned over his body.

As she was about to press into the pressure point, she saw a piece of hair from his head sticking out awkwardly. It annoyed her for the last 10 minutes and she finally couldn't suppress the urge to ignore it. She took the piece of hair between her fingers and folded it back behind his ears. Returning her hand to press into the area she was about to fix, her eyes returned to his face.

She froze.

 _Wait a minute. This can't be, I must be dreaming._

Black eyes.

They stared back into her white eyes without blinking.

However, these weren't the same ones she once looked into.

These ones were also pained but they held some sort of warmth in them. As if that warmth was reserved for her.

She couldn't move, she didn't know why. She should've struck him dead at that very moment but she couldn't.

 _Is this some sort of genjutsu?_

His normal, onyx eyes staring at her made her freeze.

"You came back for me…" He whispered, a smile forming right after the words left his mouth. The warmth in his eyes grew and she felt like she was burning from his stare.

The sound of clanking chains echoed in her ears. Before her brain could process what they meant, she felt a warm hand lay against her cheek. His hand against her face almost burned at the touch.

A nebulous image kept appearing in her mind. A ball of bright light moved ferociously under a dark light in her mind.

It was like a small spark that grew into a small fire.

She pulled herself out whatever trance she was in, and screamed.

"Wait no—Agh!"

She didn't wait for him to finish and poked at another pressure point instead. This one would paralyze him from the neck down.

She fell backward, hitting her head on the wall. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, she messily picked herself up and bumped into a chair.

"You're definitely not Yuna," he mumbled, but she barely heard him.

As much as she wanted to respond, all she did was pant, placing her hand over her heart to feel the loud thudding. She shouldn't have responded but she was too freaked out to think rationally.

Sakura appeared with some Anbu by her side.

"What in the world is going on?" Sakura yelled. Her eyes traveled from Hinata to the war villain on the bed. Her green eyes widened. "Go tell the Hokage immediately, also tell Ibiki-sama that he's woken up. Also, bring a few more Anbu please," she told the men beside her. They disappeared with a poof right after.

Hinata sat on the floor panting like a tortured animal. She definitely had no composure at this point she didn't even try to bother to hide it. Sakura walked over to Hinata and squatted down to her level. She rested her hand on Hinata's shoulder and grabbed her hand with the other one.

"Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?" Sakura calmly asked.

"N-no, I'm j-just frightened that's all." Hinata breathed, it was barely audible.

"What happened?"

Hinata placed her free hand on the back of her head, "I-I was about to fix a pressure point but he opened his eyes. Out of f-fear, I pressed into another pressure point," she glanced over at the man motionless on the bed, "he's paralyzed right now."

Sakura noticed how her friend was rubbing the back of her head, wincing slightly. She helped Hinata get up and they walked towards the door, "Well you're shaking pretty bad, I'll have a nurse look at that head of yours." Hinata smiled at her friend gratefully.

As their backs were almost out the door, Hinata glanced at Madara from the corner of her eyes. She only saw a glimpse of him before the door was closed.

* * *

"You already know why you're here, Madara-san," Kakashi mumbled.

He was sitting with his legs crossed in front of Madara's hospital bed. They weren't the only ones in the room. Kakashi was accompanied by Ibiki and several Anbu members. Shikamaru was also asked to join the little meeting.

They had figured out a way to un-paralyze Madara and he was now sitting comfortably on the bed, well as comfortably someone could be in chakra chains.

The group of men were trying to get Madara to talk for the last two hours but they prevailed. Ibiki offered to take the man to be dealt with the Torture and Interrogation Force but Shikamaru turned it down as it went against the First Hokage's favor of 'starting new'. No matter what they did, the Uchiha wouldn't speak. All he did was just listen and smirk. It annoyed Shikamaru immensely, as Madara was making this much more complicated than it needed to be.

"It's your first time seeing people in eight months, and you won't say a word?" Shikamaru retorted.

Madara rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"What a drag. I say we just forget the First Hokage's orders and send him with the Raikage, he'll have no problem putting him in that Double Lariat," he groaned.

Kakashi let out a big sigh, "Madara-san, we just want your cooperation. This is your chance to start a new life, no more hatred, no more war, no more Kaguya, we are starting new. I've put my name on the line for you, everyone doubted me at first and refused to let you near this village. I pulled a lot of strings from friends to get you even on that hospital bed."

"Am I supposed to thank you?" Madara finally spoke. He was very much tired and irritated of dealing with these people the last few hours, he could no longer stay quiet. He just wanted them to leave already.

Then tension in the room shifted a little. They were surprised to receive a response this late.

Kakashi continued speaking, "No, but this is how you make connections. I stick out a leg for you, you do the same for me. That's beside the point, as the Hokage I want the best for every citizen in this village. You, you are one of the founders of the village. You're the one who named it. This is now your chance to enjoy what it has become."

Madara's face seemed inattentive, and he remained quiet.

Kakashi frowned. He ran his fingers through his silver locks and thought for a few seconds. He decided to make an offer.

"Let the people try to get to know you. You are not the same man you were during the war. People want to say that change. Listen if you can prove that, I'll let you become a full-fledged Konoha jonin-"

"Hokage-sama," Ibiki warned.

"I'll even let you become a trusted advisor. I'll even let you free," Kakashi finished.

"That's going a little too far," Shikamaru objected.

Madara was suddenly interested in the offer the current Hokage had given him.

Loyalty? To the Village Hidden in the Leaves? That was something he hadn't even thought about since a hundred years ago. He'd rather take him up on the offer to be let free.

 _That fool Hashirama wanted me to start over? How? Why?_

Madara was somewhat angry that Hashirama would put him in this situation. It was humiliating and he felt like a caged animal with rabies. They had stripped him of most his powers and chained him as well, what else did they want from him? They were asking for too much, he just was woken up and now he was in Konoha with the current Hokage in front of him. This was happening way too fast. He could've sworn that he just saw Yuna too, and her reaction was almost unbelievable. Yuna was dead, but who was this girl? They were identical.

He frowned, "Where is she?"

Puzzled, Kakashi glanced over at Shikamaru, and he responded with a heavy shrug.

"Who?"

"The girl that was in my room when I woke up," Madara barked.

"Ah, the white-eyed girl right?" Ibiki questioned.

Both Shikamaru and Kakashi turned their heads to Ibiki. Was he really about the sell-out Hiashi's daughter to the ex-war villain?

"I'll only talk if you let me see her."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck, and nervously laughed, "The thing is, that young lady would need to accept the request, there's a good chance she may say no."

Madara turned his head and stared out the window of his hospital room, an expression on his face almost saying, 'I could care less.'

Kakashi got the message clearly and called up one of the Anbu guards.

"Find Hinata-san and I'll be stopping by the Hyuga compound in a few hours. This is very important."

Madara barely heard what the Hokage had told the Anbu guard. He did manage to hear a name though.

 _Hinata._

Madara thought back to when he opened his eyes for the first time in many months, he thought he was dead. He was staring back into the eyes of Yuna once more and the ray of light behind her casted almost an angelic appeal. She was heavenly beautiful in his eyes.

 _Hinata. A name as beautiful as the woman herself._

He wanted to smile but felt too weak.

He laid back down on the bed and shut his eyelids to drift back to sleep.

 **So I don't really mind if this story doesn't get popular or not, I'm really making this story for the MadaHina fans out there. If you like this story, I'm only making this for you guys. I haven't found much stories with this ship but I wanted to add at least another one. Their first meeting together wasn't that amazing but I don't want anything grand yet, let's take this adventure nice and slow together. Thanks for the review! It's much appreciated and they make me so happy. I had to update early, this is for you guys! I've been into the Naruto opening songs, my favorite one is opening 15, what's your favorite opening from Naruto?**


	3. Chapter 2

"Does this one look ripe?"

Hyuga Ko took the apple from Hinata's delicate fingers and brought it to his eyes. He turned the apple around to check if there was any noticeable bruising. When he found that there was none visible to his normal eyes, he activated his Byakugan and peered into the insides of the apple. He found a little bruise underneath the skin of the apple near the stem, making the apple unworthy to be eaten by the lord's daughter. He deactivated his Byakugan and returned the damaged apple back to the stand with the rest of the fruits.

"No, it has a bruise on the inside, Lady Hinata," he answered.

She suppressed a laugh and smiled at her caretaker instead. Hinata finally giggled, grabbing a different apple to examine, "I didn't use the Byakugan for no reason, I just wanted your opinion. The apple is fine, I don't mind the bruises on the inside. As long as they're not ruining the apple, it's still good enough. A damaged apple doesn't make it a rotten apple, Ko."

Ko rubbed the back of his head and let out a small, nervous laugh.

It was currently Saturday. Every weekend the there was an outside market held in the center of the village. It was a routine for Hinata and Ko to head out early in the morning before it got overcrowded to get the good deals first. Today, Hinata found some very pretty hair clips that had small, blue lions embedded on them. She also found a couple of nail polishes that she got for Hanabi. Ko bought some cheap kunai and a new shogi board, after he saw the Hokage and Shikamaru play it, he became interested and planned to challenge Hanabi. After snatching up whatever they found interesting, they would head off to buy fruits and vegetables because they were always 35% off.

"Forgive me Lady Hinata, you deserve only the best," he admitted. Hinata glanced up at Ko and he flashed her a genuine, kind smile

Ko had been Hinata's caretaker ever since she was a young child and even till now. He took care of her whenever she wasn't in the Academy. He always saw Hinata as a younger sister that he needed to protect at all costs necessary, she was just precious to him. Sometimes he was thankful that he was the caretaker of Hinata and not Hanabi, even though he loved the brat with all his heart, Hinata was just so much easier to get along with. She was the type of person who could befriend even Pain, she was just a likable human. She was pure and wholesome, despite having dealt with the trauma of war and losing someone special to her. He had seen her grow from a small, stuttering machine to a brave woman. Ko appreciated that she was humble even though she came from a noble family. Hinata wasn't able to speak to him back then but over time she became comfortable with him and put her walls down. Now they truly felt like family, but he still treated her like the princess he believed she was.

"When will my father return?" Hinata asked, walking ahead towards the stand of pears.

Ko followed, just a few steps behind, "In two weeks Lady Hinata, don't worry I'm sure they're safe and well."

"You're right," she replied. In fact, she asked for a different reason. She believed that her sister and father were very much capable of taking care of themselves. She was just hoping that her father would return soon so she wouldn't need to check up on that man who woke up while she was examining him with her Byakugan. She thought her father was returning the following week but upon hearing that he wouldn't be back for another two weeks, she decided to suck it up and carry on with the Hokage's orders from the previous night.

 _"Hinata-san, thank you for allowing me into your home this late at night," Kakashi added, "I know your father and sister aren't here right now so you're the one in charge around here. Thank you for your cooperation."_

 _She smiled at the Rokudaime, replying to his thanks, "Anytime Hokage-sama. Would you like some tea? Food? The maids just finished wrapping up dinner but I could take the food back out again."_

 _"No there's no need for that. I won't be here long, I will take you up on that offer another time."_

 _Hinata laughed. This man was Naruto's sensei and he was overall a nice man, she had no reason to be afraid. There was also the fact that he was the Hokage as well, he only had good intentions for coming to her house this late at night, though some may see it as suspicious._

 _"Well I don't want to waste any more of your time so I'll start speaking," he began, "yesterday we spoke to Madara after he woke up. We didn't get much out of him, he refused to talk for a couple of hours. That is until he brought you up."_

 _Hinata's eyes widened, feeling her body buckle itself into place. She was shocked but even more afraid, she didn't want to know why the Hokage came to her house at such a late hour to tell her Madara was speaking about her. She didn't want Madara to even know who she was._

 _She pinched her arm with her nails and spoke, "That's a surprise."_

 _He sighed, noticing how stiff the girl got, "Yeah we were surprised too. Look, I'm not going to waste your time here so I'll just come out and say it. Madara requested to speak to you. He says he'll only talk as long as it is with you." She pinched her skin so hard she drew blood._

 _"Hinata-san…" Kakashi trailed off. He was starting to reconsider why he would even ask. He shouldn't put her through this, he was being too hasty listening to Madara._

 _"I'll do it."_

 _"Yeah I get it, I'm sorry I came in at such a late time—Wait. You will?" Now Kakashi was the one who was in shock._

 _"Yes. I will speak with him."_

 _He underestimated the Byakugan Princess, something he'll never do again._

 _He stood up and bowed. He had come for what he needed to say, he had no reason to stay. He said a couple of parting words and bid her farewell. He thanked the Hyuga for her cooperation and began to walk towards the door. As his hand reached for the wooden handle, Hinata spoke again._

 _"Hokage-sama. I'm not doing this for the wellbeing of that man. I'm doing this to face the man who caused the death of my brother. I need closure. This is no way to help that murderer."_

 _No. She was in no way going to help Madara out. She was going to pull herself together and face the man who caused a war and damaged her supporting system. She was going to look into his pathetic eyes again with no fear and speak her mind. He had to hear it from someone, how much he hurt everyone's lives; her life. He needed to know that she was still grieving and he wouldn't be forgiven. If she was going to suffer, he would need to understand her pain as well. No, this wasn't for the wellbeing of that man, she was doing this for herself, for Neji._

 _The Hokage turned his head, a regretful smile tugging at his lips, "Understood. Have a good night Hinata-san." He pulled the door open and disappeared from view when he closed it back._

 _As soon he left, Hinata slouched and leaned against the wall. Her eyes were wide and her body was shaking horribly. It seemed like putting on a tough act was too much for her to handle._

 _"Did I just say that to the Hokage? What was I thinking?" She gasped. She told herself that she would apologize to him the next day._

Hinata winced slightly, thinking back to the night before.

It was now Saturday morning and later tonight she would see Madara once again. That morning the Rokudaime sent a messenger bird to the Hyuga compound on what time and where to meet at.

After picking several more fruits without the help of Ko's Byakugan, they bought an efficient amount to bring home for the rest of the clan to enjoy. Hinata wanted to help carry at least one of the five bags filled with fruits, but Ko immensely refused to even let her lay a finger on the bags. He even carried the little goodies she bought earlier for herself. Multiple times she asked but each time he would say, "Of course not Lady Hinata, this is my duty and I have it under control." Which was a fat lie because he was hunched over with everything in his arms, sweating and panting like a mess.

They began to walk towards the path that would take them to their compound. It was about a seven-minute walk but it never took long in their minds.

Along the way, they bumped into Ino and Tenten.

"Oh, there you are Hinata. We just stopped by your house looking for you. Are you busy?" Ino asked.

Hinata glanced at Ko and he gave her a look that said, 'Go ahead'. She had promised to play shogi with him when they got back home so he giving her the signal to leave if she wanted to.

She smiled at Ko and returned her eyes to Ino's to reply, "Not really. I was going to play shogi with Ko. Why? Is there anything wrong?"

"Actually no. We're going to have a girl's day today. We're meeting up with Sakura at Yakiniku Q. Have you eaten yet?" Tenten asked.

Hinata shook her head. She missed out on breakfast this morning since she woke up late and didn't want to miss the early sales.

Ino smirked, grabbing Hinata's hand, "Great! Let's go."

 _How am I always the one being tugged around?_

Hinata was now being slowly tugged away from Ko.

"You don't mind Ko-kun, right?" Ino giggled, flashing the caretaker a gracious smile.

He turned the other way as he felt his ears burn up, and muttered, "Of course I don't mind."

Hinata glanced back at Ko and waved him goodbye. She felt bad for calling off their shogi game, but she made a promise to herself that when she came back home they'd play several rounds of shogi to make it up for ditching him. That was a promise.

* * *

Following behind the two kunoichis, Hinata listened closely to their scandalous conversation.

"You almost made out with Lee?"

Tenten pounced onto Ino and held her hand over her mouth tightly. "Shh! Shush! I told you not to say anything Ino!" She hollered.

With a mighty push, Ino shoved Tenten off of her and frowned. She pulled out a mirror from her kunai pouch and reapplied her lipstick. Noticing this, Tenten glanced at the palm of her hand only to discover smeared pink gloss on her palm.

"Watch the mouth babe," Ino huffed, "don't act like it's so wrong. Someone is bound to slobber over that face of his, one day or another."

"I didn't make out with him, I said almost. I told him I wasn't ready."

Hinata placed her hand on Tenten's shoulder in a comforting act and to also bring herself into the conversation.

"Hey don't worry about it. Lee is a good guy, you shouldn't be embarrassed about a thing so natural." Hinata smiled kindly at her friend.

Hinata knew she was the last one to be giving advice on that subject, but she wanted to comfort her friend. In her mind though, she was flipping out and burning red.

Tenten smiled back, appreciatively. She was about to say something when Ino beat her to the cut.

"Yeah, he is a good guy. That bodysuit he wears though, not so good," Ino contorted her face into a disgusted look.

"I don't think it's that b-bad," Hinata offered in defense to Tenten.

That was a giant lie. Hinata was a bad liar, something Ino caught but thankfully Tenten didn't. Hinata thought the leotards were definitely not her style but to each their own. She respected Lee for doing what he wanted and not caring what others thought.

Ino grinned, "You guys got some weird tastes. The goofballs aren't my type you know. I'm more of dark and mystery type of gal myself. What about you Hinata? Any guy lucky enough to get with the Byakugan Princess?"

Hinata's face turned a bright crimson red. A cheeky, whiskered, blonde goofball came to mind. It was always Uzumaki Naruto, it always had been about him. Never had the idea of another man entertained her mind, no other man could make Hinata feel the way Naruto did. They had been becoming closer to each other, getting to know another through casual talks and training, she knew she felt something. This was a new feeling, something she had been longing all her life from him. Yet, it felt so one-sided. She was nowhere near the stage Lee and Tenten were in, not even by a landslide, but she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She also felt like a hypocrite as she was the one who was saying, 'You shouldn't be embarrassed about a thing so natural.' As if she had done anything close to that.

She needed to escape the spotlight immediately.

"L-Look! I see Sakura waiting," she squeaked, "Sakura-chan!"

Sakura was off in the distance waiting outside Yakiniku Q. To swerve the topic of conversation to another direction, she called out to Sakura and ran to her. She wasn't in a comfortable position and she needed to think about something else.

* * *

"Really with Lee? I'm not surprised," Sakura said amusingly as she picked a piece of pork belly with her chopsticks.

"Ino!" Tenten bleated. She punched the blonde on the shoulder and Ino glared angrily back as a response. Hinata giggled, seeing this conversation happen twice now, she still found it entertaining. After a discussion about some new chakra control techniques that Tsunade had taught Sakura, Ino quickly turned the tables back to Tenten and took the liberty to explain to Sakura about what she missed out on the walk there.

"Bodysuits aren't my thing, but you do you," Sakura nervously said.

"He's a really sweet guy. Not every girl likes an Uchiha," Tenten mumbled.

Sakura laughed, "What's not to like? Those damned Uchihas are strong, handsome, and mysterious."

Ino nodded her head in agreement, "You got that right. My mom used to tell me about how all the girls used to flock over the Uchiha boys when they were our age. She even told me she had a crush on Sasuke's dad once!"

"Itachi was quite handsome," Tenten added begrudgingly.

Hinata began to think.

She would be lying to herself if she said that the Uchihas weren't handsome. They were definitely a gorgeous breed of men, in every possible way they seemed almost godlike at times. They spawned geniuses and legends, no wonder the Uchiha Clan was a force to be reckoned with. From Madara to Sasuke, these men were terrifyingly amazing, it was truly a shame that there were only two left in existence. There were four alive just last year but due to the war and its circumstances, only two remained. She found their eyes to be the most interesting. She knew they must've thought the same of the Byakugan.

"If I were still in love with Sasuke I could probably give you a million reasons why the Uchiha were so great," Sakura sighed.

"Oh really? You moved on Forehead?" Ino teased her best friend.

She nodded triumphantly, "Of course. You wouldn't know anything about a lifelong love, but he's been with me through hell and back. Of course, I was too blind to see it back then but now, I can finally see he was the one for me. I'm happy now, he really is a special guy."

Hinata listened closely. This was certainly news to her, she had always thought that Sakura would stick to Sasuke.

Ino raised her brows suspiciously, mumbling some stubborn words, "Yeah right Forehead, who?"

"Yeah that's some news, Sakura-chan, I thought you would never let go of Sasuke. I'm actually proud of you. Who is it?" Tenten spoke.

"We decided to keep it a secret until he came back but I'll let you guys be the first ones to know. His name is—"

"Lady Hyuga."

Sakura's revelation was sadly interrupted by an ANBU's deep voice. He had suddenly appeared within a poof of smoke and stood beside the table where the girls were enjoying their meal until he appeared. Disappointed that she never got to hear who Sakura's new love interest was, she turned to the ANBU and answered the stranger.

"Yes?"

"Hokage requests your presence immediately at the top of the Hokage Monument. I'm here to assist you there. Here's a message he wrote." He handed over a piece of paper.

Her fingers pulled the paper from his hands and she turned it over and read the message.

 _Hinata,_

 _Forgive me on this urgent message that you are being given. He demands to see you immediately and won't wait later tonight. Meet us at the Hokage Monument. Please dispose of this note once you read it. Thank you for your cooperation._

"I-I got to go. I'll see you guys later," Hinata smiled to her friends and they smiled back to her. They didn't find the scene strange at all, they were ninjas, and it wasn't strange to be summoned by the Hokage at times. They all said goodbye to their timid friend and went back to conversing as if there hadn't been a distraction at all.

Hinata turned her attention back to the ANBU and stood up. She followed the man out of the food joint and they went walking toward the Hokage Monuments.

She folded the paper into fours and ripped it apart, piece by piece. She put the ripped pieces into her palm and infused chakra into her hand until the pieces burnt into a crisp.

* * *

The last couple of minutes of walking gave Hinata major anxiety, something she hadn't dealt with since she was an Academy kid. She was nervous, more nervous than she should have been. She was supposed to be that bold young woman who stood up to Neji during their chunin battle. She was supposed to be that strong girl who stood up to Pain. She was supposed to be that girl who joined hands with Naruto and the rest of the Shinobi Allied Forces. She was supposed to be that girl who willingly agreed to speak to Uchiha Madara.

 _Where is that girl? Where did she go?_

Her head became light headed as they escalated the mountain quicker than she would have liked. She wanted to cry, she wanted to be held, and she wanted to release her pain. This man caused the death of her beloved cousin. She wanted to hate him.

That was just the thing.

She was afraid, not because he scared her, but she was afraid of the fact that she couldn't hate him, as much as she would have liked to.

She always made the excuse that it was for herself and to avenge Neji but she knew Neji would never want that. He would want her to forgive and move on.

Hinata could never hate someone, not if her life depended on it. She was never that person nor would she ever be. She believed if you wanted to find the bad in a person, you will always find it. She always looked for the good, it was just an instinct for her. She knew that once, Madara was a human capable of loving and hurting like any other. He had to be, she believed that people were born good but they just learned to hate. Hatred was born of hatred.

She thought she hated him.

Until she looked into those onyx eyes when he woke up.

They were pained like they were before but they also held that warmth.

That's what scared her.

 _All this big talk about making Madara-san understand my pain and I can't stop shaking. Oh god, help me._

They finally made it to the top of the mountain and just a little far off, she saw the back of Madara's wild, long hair.

Her heart began to pound wildly against her chest. The palms of her hands began to sweat and she felt her legs become jelly-like, something that happened last time before she encountered him.

There he sat, probably watching the view above Konoha. Kakashi was about four meters away from Madara, along with Shikamaru. There were several Anbu guards keeping a lookout there as well, just in case anything went awry. Hinata understood that Kakashi was taking no chances with this man, he truly was lethal even if he was stripped of some powers.

Hinata approached Kakashi slowly until she stood beside him, waiting for an order.

"Thank you for doing this Hinata. He refused any deal with the village if he didn't meet with you now. He's quite stubborn. You may be our only chance to fulfill the First Hokage's favor," The silver-haired man whispered.

"N-no need to thank me, Hokage-sama. I'd also like to apologize for the way I spoke to you yesterday. It was disrespectful and rude. I'll fully accept whatever punishment my father gives me when he returns."

Kakashi turned to look at the Hyuga. He was somewhat surprised. He cleared his throat and whispered back, "I would never tell him about such a thing. It's good to see you have some backbone to you." Hinata smiled at the Hokage who returned the gesture, as far as she could see with the wrinkle next to his eye, she assumed he smiled back.

"You can go," he added. She nodded and slowly made her way to Madara.

His hair was softly blowing in the wind and he was completely still. He was wearing a fishnet shirt, similar to the one Kiba used to wear, and dark blue pants similar to what the jounin wear.

As his image became closer, she thought of Naruto.

 _What would Naruto-kun do?_

She took a deep breath and as she took a final step, she now stood a few feet away from him, close enough that he would know her presence, and far enough so she wasn't that close to him. Truth be told, he knew where she was the whole time. As a sensory-ninja, he was able to locate her easily.

"Sit down," he ordered. His voice was very husky and deep, but not threatening in any way.

She slowly sat down and crossed her legs underneath her. She kept her hands on her thighs and played with her fingers, her eyes not leaving her hands either.

"Hinata." He said.

She tensed a bit, hearing her name come from his mouth was unexpected, especially without any honorifics and she began to shake a little. It was an involuntary act and she didn't mean it, but it was another old habit coming into play at a bad moment.

"It's a beautiful name," he complimented.

Madara, being the gentleman that he was, went for the straightforward approach and casually compliment her. Hinata was a very beautiful woman, maybe even more lovely than his ex-fiancé. He was definitely interested in this girl, she was very...different. He had no interest in pursuing anything with her but he wanted to keep tabs on her. He was intrigued.

By their initial reaction, he could still she was different from Yuna. He threw out the reincarnated soul idea and decided to start from scratch. He needed to figure her out. In the back of his mind though, he still saw Yuna and his heart was aching. Sometimes his mind got the best of him and he felt like she was really Yuna.

She stopped shaking and silently choked on air, something he didn't pick up.

"What does it mean?"

She quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat, "It means s-sunny place."

Madara smiled to himself, leaning his head back and stared at the great blue sky. He found it comical how the name didn't really fit her. This girl was timid, quiet, and her lavender outfit didn't quite match up with the words 'sunny'. He didn't feel like one to talk though, his name meant 'spots/speckles'. He couldn't find the correlation with his name either.

"How was your morning?"

Stunned by another unexpected question, she softly replied, "It was good."

"What did you do? Tell me everything."

She answered honestly, "I woke up early to go to the weekend market sale with my cousin. I bought some goodies and fruits." Hinata wasn't sure where this was going but she didn't have a good feeling about it. She had no idea why he requested to speak to her but she was almost positive that it wasn't to talk about her morning activities. He wanted something, there's no other reason why he would ask for her. She wasn't special and she had nothing to give.

"Weekend market sale? What's that?" He asked.

"Y-You don't know what that is?" She curiously inquired.

"I spent a lot of time hiding these last few decades. There's a lot of things I do and do not know."

It was true. Madara had a whole range of knowledge when it came to the Great Nations and jutsus. He knew many secrets of many villages and their militia. However, he never learned about any market sale in his village and he was somewhat curious.

Hinata grew slightly excited, she loved the weekend market sale so much and had a thing for trying to get everyone she knew to come and check it out.

 _No! Get ahold of yourself Hinata! He wants something from you, he could care less about the market sale, he's just trying to fool you._

Hinata sighed, losing the excitement she had gained just a few seconds ago. She positioned herself so she sat facing Madara and held her head high.

His hair was long and a little spiky. His side view was also appealing to the eyes. He was indeed staring at the village and she noticed he had a half bitten apple in his hand.

This was for Neji, she was going to do this for him. She couldn't be afraid, she had to be brave. She was a Hyuga, Hyugas were strong, fearless, humble, and confident.

"Uchiha-san. May I ask why you have requested to see me?"

He didn't bother to look at her but he continued to look at the grand view of Konoha. He didn't seem to have taken offense to Hinata's sudden question and to her surprise he answered nonchalantly.

"Please, just call me Madara," he paused, "you want the truth Hinata?"

She wondered since when were they ever on a first name basis. He was treating her as if they've known each other for years or as if they were quite close.

"Yes, I want to k-know the truth."

"I requested you because I just wanted your presence."

His blunt confession caused her breath to be caught in her throat. She was somewhat upset and embarrassed. She felt a familiar feeling creep on back to her. It was confusion. She didn't understand what he meant and that itself bothered her miserably. Did he take her for a fool? As just a random girl who could give away her time to this man because he wanted her 'presence'? Did he request her because he wanted to be entertained?

 _What type of tomfoolery was this—?_

"Can you take me someday?" He asked. Her brows furrowed and she stared at his side profile. Before she could ask by what he meant, he continued speaking. "To the market sale on the weekends that is. I'd like to go one day." He turned his head to the side so he was now looking at her.

Those eyes were back staring at her again.

That image of a small fire appeared again in her mind. This time, it grew a little bit bigger, like it was barely catching the oxygen to grow ever so slightly.

Her eyes widened and she turned away to break their contact, she felt her cheeks and ears burn up. She didn't like making eye contact with him, to her, he always it so uncomfortable and awkward. He was a strange man indeed.

 _I don't understand…why me?_

She took a deep breath and spoke, "Uchiha-san, why did someone like you request my presence?"

He smiled at her and chuckled, "You intrigue me Hinata. I met a girl that looked like you. I can see a similarity between the two of you but I can tell there's a difference. I'm not sure what that difference is though." She bit her lip and focused her eyes on the rocky floor again. Madara was about to speak but he saw her bite her lip, an act with innocent intentions that made him begin to stutter, "So that's why I asked for you s-specifically."

"Oh ok," she said.

She wanted to say more but couldn't think of anything to say.

He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Tell me Hinata, what is your opinion about my stay here in Konoha?"

She balled her hands into fists but kept the rest of her body still. She couldn't lie to him, and either way she had a feeling he would know if she was lying.

"At first I thought it was a false rumor. I didn't want to believe that such a horrible thing could happen. I was afraid, I cried for a few days and never left my room. You are responsible for so many deaths, I thought of you as a monster. Now, I think that you can't be trusted. I don't know much about you and your history but I think you'd be better off away from the village," she sighed, "but I also think that it's good that you have another chance. You've made too many mistakes to be forgiven for what you've done but if this is what the First Hokage asked for, we will do our best to follow his wishes. Your Sharingan, they see only through hatred. Maybe if you find something to love, you can see this world differently. "

She glanced at him and she found him staring at her again with his eyes wide and mouth gaped open.

She peered at the apple and it reminded her of what she said earlier to Ko.

She sighed, "A damaged apple doesn't make it a rotten apple."

He stayed quiet and the unexplainable expression on his face didn't change.

A little flustered by the amount of what she said to him, she quickly added, "That's just my opinion, it doesn't really matter just forget about it." She laughed nervously and scooted farther from him.

"Thank you, for answering honestly."

"It's only fair you get the truth."

"I feel like I've seen you before," he admitted. Yes, this girl was the identical replica of Yuna, but he felt like he's seen this Hinata during this time period.

"Yes, you have. Naruto-kun shared his chakra with me. You saw me and glared at us," she affirmed.

"Naruto-kun?" He asked.

"I mean Uzumaki Naruto," she added, blushing once more.

He grew suspicious of her relationship with that Kyuubi boy and made note of it. He would find information about it later.

"Leave me. Go with that fox loving brat," he muttered under his breath.

"I can leave n-now?" She asked.

 _What the hell. She was supposed to take a hint! No, stay you idiot!_

His eyebrow twitched and he let his pride get the better of him.

"Yeah, you can go now Hinata," he replied quietly. He turned his head and he heard her get to her feet and walk off.

He silently sat there watching over the village he had created with Hashirama. It was still in the process of being rebuilt from the destruction of Pain but it oddly looked similar to when it was first being built.

All those years he spent planning and plotting the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he looked at the world through the eyes of hatred. He was blinded by the path of evil throughout most of his life and he had to lose to Hashirama twice to give up. Every time he nearly died, that idiot friend of his always had to go and pull him out of the dirt. Now, through the pained eyes he had, he would figure out a way to see the world with a new perspective. He'd look at this damned world without the lens of hate but rather that of love. Or, he should say he would try to.

Hinata told him if he could find something to love, he could see the world differently.

 _The things I loved have all been taken from me. Every single damn thing, this damaged world has taken it from me and left me with to suffer._

There's a loneliness that only exists in one's mind. The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart and all they can do is stare blankly.

He watched Izuna die in front of him. He saw Yuna bleed to death right before his very own eyes. He killed thousands of ninjas who had families, and maybe he's even killed their family as well.

What right did Madara have to look at the world through love?

 _"It's not fair? Madara, son, life is never fair to us. Some people are lucky enough to live a happy life without any problems but a perfect world doesn't exist. You love me right? You wouldn't want anything to happen to me right? Exactly. Once you learn to love this world for the damaged thing that it is, you can be happy. Life isn't fair but who says it has to be? Remove the bonds of hatred and be bonded with love instead. I'll tell you, you'll be much happier that way. "_

Madara thought back to his mother's words. She had told him that when his youngest brother was killed.

She was somewhat right.

Oh great, she makes it seem like I can actually do it. Me, Madara Uchiha? I could never get a second chance to really live again.

"Have you made your decision yet Madara-San?" Kakashi's voice rang out.

Madara rolled his eyes.

Yet here I am being given a second chance. What kind of joke is this?

He stood up and stretched his legs that ached for having to stay in the same position for so long. He took in the nice breeze that ruffled his hair and for the first time in a long time, he smiled at the village.

He was going to stay long enough to figure that girl out. Then he'd figure out what do from there.

He turned around and grinned at the Rokudaime, "I'll take you up on that offer Hokage. I'll stay in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and become a jounin."

He was going to solve the puzzle that was Hinata.

Maybe he'd find Yuna somewhere in her.

Or maybe he'd find something else.

He smirked to himself and took another bite of his apple.

 **Author's Note: uh hey guys! What do you think about long chapters? I saw someone say they don't like long chapters because of fillers but I don't understand. I make sure each chapter teaches a minimum of 5K, sometimes they will be more. So I just wanted to give a little reminder that you may find a few mistakes in my chapters, as I am the only one who edits them. I always check my chapters multiple times and even after the two I posted, I still find mistakes...so please forgive me on that. Also! This story is rated M for a reason. There will be sexual content later on and there will be strong language. I know this isn't much but I hoped you guys enjoyed! Also, if you find anything weird, let me know, I had to use my phone and laptop to upload this chapter and I'm so irrittated. Hopefully it didn't mess up anything. I also love the reviews you guys leave! Please share your thoughts and comments, they make me happy. Till next time loves**


	4. Chapter 3

_"_ _Neji niisan! How did it go?"_

 _Neji nonchalantly took out a folded piece of paper that was tucked in his kunai pouch and handed it over to Hinata._

 _Her shaking fingers pulled the paper from his grasp but she struggled to open the folded paper. Once she opened it, her eyes immediately scanned the whole thing, word by word until the very last one. When she finished, she glanced up at Neji, who was just standing there calmly staring at their surroundings._

 _"_ _Neji niisan!" She cheered. Tears began rolling down her pale cheeks but the big smile on her face never faltered. She wanted to hug him but she knew too well that the prodigy Hyuga hated when people invaded his space._

 _"_ _Are you crying?"_

 _She wiped her eyes to remove the wet residue of her salty tears and nodded._

 _Neji muttered, "Don't do that, it's embarrassing."_

 _"_ _I know but I'm just so happy for you," she quietly mumbled as she wiped away some more escaping ears._

 _Out of all her classmates, Neji was the first to become a jounin at the age of 15. She was very proud of him and overjoyed with emotions. Neji deserved this, he was a genius, after all, it was only a matter of time before he became an elite ninja. He was still young but he was ranked high enough to serve as a military captain, a position well deserved for a Hyuga genius. She was sure Neji would be able to make Anbu as well and that was a position she knew he wanted._

 _"_ _Neji, you'll do great things later on. I know you will. Just be careful ok, Neji niisan?"_

 _He looked away from her and scoffed, "Yeah I know. I'm not clumsy like that idiot Naruto or Lee."_

 _She suppressed a small laugh to his bitter comment. She knew he meant no harm in his words, this was just the way he was, a brutally honest and cool guy. He was nothing like Hinata but she still looked up to him as a person and as a big brother, even though they were technically cousins._

 _"_ _Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving," he sighed, stretching out his sore arms. He took the paper back from Hinata, folded it, and placed it back in his kunai pouch again._

 _"_ _Ok," she agreed._

 _"_ _Nothing spicy though."_

 _Hinata giggled._

 _They went walking through the village and chatted about Hinata become a jounin as well. She denied the idea since she had barely become a chunin a few months back. Hinata knew she was nowhere near Neji's level and didn't entertain the idea of being a jounin just yet. Perhaps when she was older and more experienced would she try for the rank but as of the moment that was something she knew she wasn't ready for. Neji argued that she should just try and go for it, as not everyone makes it on their first try anyways but it would help her get the gist of the process. She still would shrug it off, explaining that she just didn't feel like she needed to become a jounin as of right now._

 _They decided to head to Ichiraku Ramen for a lighthearted meal that would warm themselves up as it was the middle of winter and it was freezing._

 _"_ _Can we get two miso ramen with extra pork?"_

 _"_ _Two miso ramen with extra pork on the way," the Ramen shop owner said. He was known as Teuchi._

 _"_ _That sounds awfully familiar," Neji mumbled to himself. He had heard of that exact order countless times but he couldn't quite put his finger on it._

 _Hinata became flustered as she knew that Neji has heard of Naruto's order before. She quickly tried to change the subject of his thoughts by speaking._

 _"_ _Are you going to tell my father about your new promotion?"_

 _"_ _Maybe, hasn't he been busy lately?"_

 _"_ _Yeah but I'm sure if you catch him at the right time, he'll listen," Hinata said._

 _"_ _It's not like it matters. Lord Hiashi is a busy man and I will not put my own needs before his to interrupt his day."_

 _"_ _I'm sure he'd be proud," she stated._

 _"_ _Hm."_

 _"_ _Well, I'm proud of you, Neji niisan."_

 _"_ _Thank you, Hinata. It means a lot."_

Hinata woke up, crying her heart out. She grabbed her pillow and squeezed it tightly against her chest, almost to alleviate the pain that was going through her feeble heart. She had another dream about Neji, but it was more of an old memory when Neji was just promoted to a jounin. She should've been happy to see him once more in her dreams, especially in such a happy light, but like always, she realized that he was dead, buried six feet beneath the earth's tender soil.

Hinata stayed awake that night in bed.

Ever since she had woken up from her uncanny dream, she had calmed down and relaxed. She was almost in a numb phase, as her face felt swollen from all the crying she had done and her body ached.

She kept her eyes open and stared at the ceiling. She tried to fall asleep and forced her eyelids to shut multiple times but after several minutes of silence, she'd find herself staring at the ceiling once again. She gave up trying to sleep and fell victim to insomnia. Usually, she was a very fast sleeper, she was known in her household to be able to sleep anywhere at any time, but tonight was different. It was probably around midnight by now and she had no urge to fall asleep again.

She huffed loudly and tugged her blanket above her head. She wanted to cry some more but she was way too tired to even try. All she wanted at the moment was to speak to her beloved whiskered boy. The one whom she loved since she was just a small child. Whenever she spoke to him about her problems, he usually gave her awful advice, but it was the act of speaking to him that actually helped her. She always felt better after to speaking to him, especially when it came to Neji.

She shoved her blanket off to the side and stared at the ceiling once again.

Her dream slowly crept back into her mind and began to manifest into horrendous nightmares he's had before. Her mind began painfully rewinding Neji's death over and over again.

She quickly sat up, breathing slightly heavy.

 _I should probably see Ko-san._

She stood up from her bed and smoothed out her silky nightgown. She grabbed a lavender jacket, put it on, and slipped a pair of slippers onto her feet. She calmly left her room and walked through the multiple hallways that made up the Hyuga main house.

She approached Ko's door and softly knocked her knuckles against the wooden frame a couple of times.

"Ko-san," she whispered. She waited for a reply. When she was about to knock again she heard some shuffling in the room and a loud thud. She was about to knock again after a few quiet minutes before the door slid open, revealing a panicked Ko.

"Lady Hinata! Are you alright? What's wrong? Did something happen? Are you hurt? Do you need any medical care? Why are you awake? Are your eyes ok? What time is it?" Ko blurted out a bundle of confusing questions that made her question whether he was still half asleep or not.

She shook her head, responding to most of the questions he had asked her.

Her voice was faint and slightly broken but she whispered in response, "I had a dream about Neji niisan."

The male Hyuga's eyes softened. Ko rubbed his face aggressively as if to wake himself up and let out a big, deep breath. There were thousands of things he could for Hinata but he couldn't help her cope with this issue of hers, and he hated to see her suffer like this.

Hanabi, Naruto, Ko, and her father were the only ones who knew about her livid nightmares and dreams about Neji. On some occasions, they'd frighten her so much that she'd seek their company, and Ko understood what that meant. She just wanted to be distracted.

"Can we play some shogi right now?"

That's all she could do to hide from Neji's death. All she ever did was distract herself and for that reason, she never fully got over his death. She was still mourning like a pathetic, weak child. Instead of letting out her emotions, she bottled them inside of her, because she didn't want to burden anyone with her problems. That's why only four people knew about her dreams.

As much as she tried to hide her grief, it was obvious to many people. It wasn't a secret around the Hyuga household that Hinata wasn't over Neji's death, and whispers began circulating that it was such a smart decision to let Hanabi become the heiress instead of Hinata. She was too _weak_ , was what they all said at her household.

Sometimes she believed those words. She was a coward for avoiding the truth and she was a fool for not accepting his death. But people mourn differently and this was her way.

"Of course, Lady Hinata. I'll be right back. Let me just go get the board," Ko announced.

He disappeared back into his room and came back out with the shogi board he had bought a few mornings back.

"You'll have to practice day and night if you want to beat Hanabi. Father says she quite good, she's almost beaten Shikamaru-san."

Ko grunted, "I'll take up that challenge, Lady Hinata."

* * *

"You have been getting better at this Hinata-san!" Lee huffed in between breaths as he dodged another of Hinata's Gentle Fist attacks.

Tenten nodded her head approvingly and clapped her hands, "Lee's right, you've been able to spar much longer than before and you're not holding back as much as you used to."

It was true. After a good lecture by Naruto, Hinata tried her best not to hold back during spars and training. Naruto mentioned that if she wanted to protect the people she loved, she couldn't hold back, even when she was training or sparring. She needed to fight, not with the intention to kill or harm, but rather with the intention to protect and help.

At first, Hinata disagreed wholeheartedly with Naruto's reasoning because she believed there were other ways to protect the people she loved. But Naruto brought up instances where she put herself in danger for the people she wanted to protect. He used those instances as examples that fighting may be the only way to protect others. After the conversation, it took a few weeks for his words to fully sink into her brain. It even took her four months to slowly release the restraints she kept on herself during training and the missions she occasionally got. It took her seven months to break most of the restraints that held her back.

She still had her moments where she couldn't finish a fight but that was because she knew in her heart that you can't always win by fighting.

 _"_ _Naruto… I've always been chasing after you… Even now… But once this war ends, I'm going to stop once and for all… Because next time, I will be by your side, holding your hand… walking with you! Please wait for me!"_

She told herself that during the Fourth Shinobi War. She was no longer chasing him, but rather waiting for him. Hinata decided long ago that she wanted to protect Naruto and for that to happen, she needed to become stronger.

Lee decided to take an offensive approach and ran towards Hinata with a plan in his mind that was sure to work.

He jumped in the air and prepped for a roundhouse kick. When his leg swung for Hinata's rib cage, she immediately blocked it with her forearm. She twisted her arm and grabbed his foot to pull him closer to her as a chakra filled fist would meet him halfway. Hinata thought she had overturned his plans but she was wrong. She was playing right into his sneaky trap.

When she was about to land the finishing blow, Lee used the strength of his body to overturn himself upward and swung his leg back, bringing along Hinata's small body. She let go and landed on her feet clumsily.

Lee was already a step ahead of her and he rotated his fist 180 degrees before he hit her and concentrated the blow with the first two knuckles of his hand. With the snap of the wrist when it rotated, it would maximize the speed of the punch and make the force of the blow much stronger.

Hinata tumbled backward and laid on the floor, barely moving.

"Lee!" Tenten yelled worriedly as she ran to Hinata's side. She was concerned that her comrade may have taken it too far.

"I'm fine, he just c-caught me off guard," Hinata breathed. It was barely audible but Tenten was able to read her lips.

"You sure you want to keep practicing with Lee? I know he's one of the strongest taijutsu fighters in Konoha but still, it's like he keeps getting rougher with you every time you train together."

"I can handle it Tenten-chan. I'm the one who keeps coming back to be trained by him. If I get hurt it's my fault," Hinata gasped. She tried to sit up but winced as she felt a sudden pain appear on her right side.

"Maybe you should train with others too," Tenten said.

"Hyugas specialize is taijutsu since it complements our Byakugan and Lee is one of the best in the Land of Fire. My father approved of this training," Hinata said, trying to control her breathing.

"Taijutsu is cool and all, but don't you want to try something cooler? Maybe like ninjutsu?"

"Hyuga don't really specialize in—"

Tenten scoffed, "Hyuga this, Hyuga that. Forget about your clan's traditions for a second will ya? Have you ever considered trying ninjutsu?"

Hinata thought for a minute. Ninjutsu seemed a little bit off for a Hyuga to use but she did know of some people in her clan who did use ninjutsu. Members mostly underwent taijutsu training but they didn't really consider anything else. Her father didn't mention anything about ninjutsu either but she knew him well, and she knew that anything less than traditional was no good. If it wasn't Hyuga tradition, it was useless.

Hinata sighed and forced herself to stand up, ignoring the pain that ignited as she did so, "I got to go." She wiped the dirt that was covering her clothes and patted off the dust. "Bye Lee! Bye Tenten!" She hummed as she headed to who knows where.

Tenten stayed at the spot where Hinata had just left her.

She wasn't sure whether to be proud or to be worried about the girl. Hinata was doing things Tenten would never have imagined she would be doing. The war had certainly changed all of them, they were no longer naive teenagers, having experienced the sad truths of war firsthand, they had grown into adults.

Hinata had been acting different ever since Neji died. She was was a little bit outspoken now for a girl who used to barely speak. She was trying new things and she was becoming reckless sometimes. They weren't obvious actions, they actually seemed more normal than not, but they were noticed by those close to her. Hyuga Hinata was showing her true colors but in a reckless way only Hinata could do, and that worried Tenten.

Tenten felt an arm snake around her neck and tugged her close to a warm body.

"You should go easier on her," she muttered.

Lee shook his head disapprovingly and tugged his beloved kunoichi closer.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"She is the one who asks me to get rougher with her every time we train."

Tenten smiled.

 _That's my girl._

* * *

"My bugs tell me that you are hurt."

Hinata stopped walking and turned around to face Shino. He had caught her. His bugs actually did tell him she was hurt but he already knew it, he could spot an injured Hinata from miles away.

"Shino-kun, it's nothing but a bruise. I was just training with Lee," she tried to explain but the way she held her side and limped said otherwise. She knew he didn't believe her but she didn't want to bother him and make him worry.

"I'm worried about you."

Hinata gulped.

"I'm fine I-I really am," she assured him. She removed her hand away from her side and poked it, to prove that she was in no pain. It didn't really work since she wanted to scream out and cry but she bit her tongue and let out a deep breath. It was a weak attempt at trying to fool Shino, but he was smarter than that.

"Let's take you to see a medic." He reached his hand to grab her arm but she quickly moved away from his grasp.

"No, like I said, it's fine. I promise," she quickly responded. She held out her pinky finger and patiently waited for Shino to do the same.

The Aburame heir was definitely not one to do such childish acts but if it was for the Byakugan Princess, he would happily do whatever she asked for. It wasn't a question, his comrade was family and he would do anything to make her smile.

He stuck out his hand and wrapped his pinky around hers, completing the promise she made to him. As quick as he wrapped his pinky around hers, he unwrapped it to make sure no one saw such an act from the heir.

Yes, she was hurt, but not in a way that was hospital worthy. She just needed to rest and it would go away.

Shino departed quickly after, mumbling something about going on a mission to find a different species of bugs that he was interested in. She assumed it was some sort of research mission and wished him the best of luck.

* * *

Hinata casually walked to Yuhi Kurenai's house as she was supposed to take care of Mirai while Kurenai was to go on a small mission. It was actually Kiba's turn to take care of the young Sarutobi but he had begged Hinata to take his stead just for this one last time, even though she knew that was a lie since he's asked her to do this before because he had a date. Hinata didn't mind, she gladly took his place in babysitting Mirai because she was just a small bundle of joy, and she kept Hinata's mind occupied away from her problems.

Once she made it to Kurenai's doorstep, she was about to knock on the door but before her knuckles could reach it, the door swung open to reveal her old sensei with her child in her arms.

"Oh Hinata, just on time dear. I thought you wouldn't make it, I'm so glad you're here," Kurenai sighed in relief. She passed her child into Hinata's arms and swung her flak jacket over her shoulder. Kurenai leaned to Mirai and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"I'm a little bit late so I must get going. Thank you so much Hinata," Kurenai quickly mumbled as she gave Hinata a one-sided hug and left running. She jumped onto some roofs and disappeared from view, leaving Hinata with a struggling baby in her arms.

Hinata fixed her hold on Mirai and held her close to her chest. She walked into Kurenai's home and closed the door behind her as she did so. The house was super tidy as always and from the corner of her eyes, Hinata spotted the flowers her old sensei would always water every morning. They were blooming beautifully.

"Bah bah!" Mirai cheered. She was trying to pull on Hinata's long locks of dark blue hair.

"That hurts a little," Hinata chuckled as she placed the baby on the floor beside the couch. "Here try this." She grabbed a little bear toy and handed it over to the baby.

Mirai took it from Hinata's grasp and started playing with the toy.

The Hyuga took a seat on the couch and watched Mirai fumble with the arms of the toy bear.

"Mirai-chan, I know you'll become a strong, beautiful kunoichi someday," Hinata told the baby.

Mirai just slobbered and bobbed her head, almost as if she were agreeing with Hinata. This only caused the 17 year-old to laugh and wonder more things.

Children were certainly interesting but babies? No, no, no, they were on a completely different level. They were just silly and so much work but Hinata knew that becoming a mother was a beautiful stage in a woman's life. To create another human being, it was such an admirable thing, and the work it came with to raise another human as well, Hinata respected mothers for that.

Hinata did want children later on in life. She never thought about the procreating part of it, but she always wondered what her children would look like. Would they have her Byakugan? Would they have pale skin? Would they be tan? Would they have blue eyes? Not that they'd catch it from her side, but she did fantasize about having a family with Naruto.

She thought about it for a second. To have a child with Naruto would mean...

 _No, get that silly thought out of your head!_

Hinata's face turned to a tomato red and she quickly changed the ideas in her mind.

"Bo!" Mirai yelled.

Hinata glanced at the baby who was now tugging at her boots. Mirai had gotten bored of her toy and demanded attention from the older human being in front of her. She shouted some more and began to cry.

Hinata picked her up and cradled her in her arms. She began rocking back and forth in an attempt to mitigate the crying. She continued this for 30 minutes until Mirai began to calm down and relax under the slow rocking of Hinata. She kept doing this for another two minutes until Mirai fell asleep in her arms.

Seeing Mirai in such a calm state made Hinata become drowsy and she slowly drifted off to sleep as well, her eyelids becoming heavy and she finally closed them shut.

Her body melted into the comfortable couch but her grip on Mirai remained the same so she wouldn't drop the girl.

The two remained like this for another hour or so until Asuma's daughter woke up and began to cry, but not as loud as last time.

Hinata woke up and tended to the girl's needs.

She changed her diaper, which was indeed stinky, changed her clothes, gave her some more toys, but Mirai was still not content.

Now stumped, Hinata sat in front of attitude-filled baby, trying to figure out why she was so upset. There had to be a reason, Mirai wasn't usually like this when Hinata babysat.

A loud grumble erupted from a stomach and Hinata's eyes fell onto the baby because the noise didn't come from her.

Mirai pouted and cried a bit more.

"Oh I'm such a fool," Hinaga groaned, and held her palm to her forehead, "forgive me Mirai-chan, I should've realized sooner."

That was just it. Mirai was hungry!

Hinata walked to the kitchen quickly and took a quick peek at the fridge. There wasn't much she could have worked with, so she decided to take Mirai on a little field trip to go grocery shopping.

She grabbed the house keys and pulled Mirai into her arms. She walked out the house and locked the door.

* * *

Kakashi was in no way intimidated.

Intimidated was the wrong word to use anyways. No, this was something else. This wasn't a feeling Kakashi felt quite often and it somewhat amused him to an extent.

 _This is...awkward._

There's the word. It was awkward.

He sat in front of Madara at a popular local tea shop. Kakashi had ordered a green tea and Madara chose to get nothing, muttering some words that Kakashi couldn't quite hear but chose to ignore. The Uchiha was wearing a black cloak with the hoodie on to disguise his appearance since not everyone would be comfortable to see him walking around the village just yet. It was way too soon for that, and even letting Orochimaru back into the village sent the people in shock, Kakashi didn't want to reveal Madara's stay for a while.

"What a waste of time," Madara grumbled, folding his arms over chest and glared at Kakashi. He had could care less that he was speaking with the Hokage, Madara was the one who partly founded the village, and in his mind, made him a higher rank, if there was even one.

"How so?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't need to answer to you, _Hokage_ ," Madara countered, his voice lowering as he said the last word.

"Right," Kakashi trailed off, "you're not exactly making this easy for us, Madara-san. We are only trying to help."

Madara hissed, "If I wanted help, I would've have asked for it."

Kakashi knew that was big a lie. He had spoken to Onoki, the third Tsuchikage, before Madara had woken up, and learned a little bit of his personality. Onoki was one of the few people alive who had met Madara during his time and Kakashi had taken the liberty to find out more about the man who he was allowing back to the village. Overall, from what Onoki told him, Madara Uchiha was a ruthless man who was prideful, smart, aggressive, and hostile.

Madara asking for help? That couldn't fool Kakashi, not one bit at all. Onoki never mentioned the word _dependent_ whilst describing Madara.

"The First Hokage understands you quite well and requested this of us. I'm sure he had his reasons," Kakashi said.

"Whatever his reasons are, I don't like the fact that I get dragged into his idiotic thinking. Whenever I try to leave he always tries to turn me back to his weak plans. How pathetic of him," Madara muttered.

The silver-haired man chuckled, "Reminds me a lot of Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship."

"The Uzumaki and Uchiha brat?" Madara questioned. He wasn't necessarily curious about his teenage descendant, but he was rather more curious about the Uzumaki kid. He was mentioned by Hinata, the last time they met, and she had mentioned him in an affectionate tone he didn't like. He was going to take the opportunity to milk some answers out of the Rokudaime.

"Yeah. Whatever Sasuke did, Naruto always had to bring his friend back. It was quite a dilemma for many years," Kakashi added.

"I don't really care for their obsessive friendship," Madara nonchalantly dismissed the conversation and converted his attention towards the villagers that were passing by. He wanted to get some answers from the Hokage but he began talking about the Kyuubi boy and Madara became bored. He figured he'd just find out on his own and it's not like the precious leader of the village would give out information about his student to a murderer, the man who started the Fourth Shinobi War nonetheless.

The Hatake grew slightly irritated but his face remained unchanged. His droopy lids stayed the same, not even wavering for a second.

"Hokage-sama, would you like anything else?" One of the waiters asked as they approached their table.

Kakashi glanced at Madara and questioned, "Do you like black tea?"

Madara ignored his question and continued observing the villagers.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kakashi sighed and replied back to the waiter, "Can I get black tea, no sugar or anything sweet, and leave it bitter."

Kakashi began talking about future plans of the village and reconstructing some buildings into a brand new fashion, but all that chatter went in Madara's left ear and went out through the right. He couldn't have cared less for the new village designs, all he could think about were some lovely pair of pale eyes.

He thought back to their little chat a few days ago and reminded himself not to become so soft the next time he saw her. It was an embarrassment but he didn't know what came of him. He was sure glad most of the people he knew were dead, for he would gladly lose to Hashirama once more than to be seen speaking so softly to a girl. Madara had made the excuse that he was acting such a way because he had just woken up from an eight-month long coma. He said a few words to Hashirama at the battlefield before going unconscious and waking up with a girl over him. It was ridiculous so it made sense for him to act ridiculous as well.

Madara contorted his face into a look of annoyance and rolled his eyes.

 _I've only been awake for a couple of days and it seems this village has already made me weak. I can't stay here for too long, I just need to become a jounin and find out more about that Hyuga girl. Then I can finally leave._

Hyuga Hinata was an itch that Madara just needed to scratch. She was just so intriguing, and once he unraveled the mystery that was Hinata, he would finally leave this village.

It probably wasn't a smart idea to agree to become a jounin, but he figured he'd just become a rogue ninja again or something like that. He just needed the Hokage to quit nagging him.

"Do you guys sell dango?"

Madara immediately recognized the voice and he quickly whipped his body around to find the source of the familiar voice.

Standing right in front of the counter, Hinata stood there with some bags on one arm and a baby in another.

How did he not sense her? Was he really that distracted in his thoughts?

 _Did she have a baby?_

Madara furrowed his brows and watched her speak to a waitress.

"Ah, I'm sorry Hinata-chan, we're sold out for the day. Come back tomorrow and I'll save you some," the waitress guiltily said.

Hinata dismissed it and smiled, "No worries, this little one likes dango so I wanted to get her some. I'll come by tomorrow then, bye Yuki-chan."

"Bye Hinata-chan, bye Mirai-chan!" The waitress that Hinata called 'Yuki', yelled out.

 _She had a kid and she never told me?_

Hinata walked out of the tea shop and disappeared from view.

"I'm leaving," Madara muttered and quickly walked out of the tea shop as well.

At the moment Madara's black tea had just arrived and Kakashi was stuck with two cups of unfinished tea.

Kakashi wasn't worried about Madara wandering off, as he had ordered to have Anbu follow him everywhere he went.

He sighed and took a sip of the black tea.

 _Oh yeah, this is horrible._

The waiter came again and brought the bill.

Kakashi took another sip of the bitter tea.

 _Horrible._

 **Author's Note: I think I'll be updating every Sunday. I'm sorry this chapter is everywhere but next chapter will definitely have Madara and Hinata interactions. Also thank you so much for the kind reviews! Everyone is being so nice and if they make a comment, it's quite respectful. I know someone mentioned that he's a mass murderer and he doesn't deserve a second chance. Listen, babe, you're right, but this is a romance fanfiction, so you gotta understand why I'm making it this way. Some of you mentioned how Madara was OOC in the last chapter but other people liked Madara in the last chapter. Yeah, that was intentional but I didn't want in to be so noticeable so I apologize for that. From now on I'll try my best to keep him in character!**

 **But thank you for leaving your opinions and thoughts, they really do get me excited to post the next chapter so till next time! Leave a review :D**


	5. Chapter 4

"Thank you, Hinata. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"For all that you've done for me, it's the least I can do. It's late now, I better get going before Ko-san reports to the Hokage that I'm missing," Hinata lightly chuckled and backed away from the door.

Hinata had successfully returned to Kurenai's house and cooked up a splendid dinner for the young Sarutobi and herself. She cooked katsu kare, which was breaded pork cutlet topped with curry rice, a dish that she knew Mirai liked. After dinner, the two took another long needed nap and yet again, Hinata was woken up by the small cries of Mirai. The Hyuga changed the baby's diapers and decided to join the child, who was playing with some stuffed animals. They played together for the rest of the night until Kurenai returned home. It was around eight o'clock by then and the sun had completely disappeared. It was dark out, meaning it was time for Hinata to go home.

"Alright, be safe out there. Have a good night," Kurenai said before she took a step back and closed the door.

As much as she wanted to head back quickly, it was a quiet and peaceful night. She never really got time alone since she always found herself busy with priorities and friends, so she took the moment to just walk back home. She didn't need to jump from rooftops, therefore tonight she would just walk her way home.

Hinata wasn't certain if Ko was waiting for her at home, but she hoped he wasn't. If he was, she had a good chance to get bombarded with questions and a lecture when she returned but she was prepared for that.

There was a full moon that night, and moonlight was just bright enough to cast the silhouette of her small body's shadow. She hated the dark and was thankful for the moon's appearance.

Hinata could see in the dark with her Byakugan but it was a very human thing to be afraid of the dark, even if you can see in it.

She tucked her hands into the pockets of her shorts and continued walking down the path that would lead her to the main road.

It was awfully cold that night but she didn't mind it much, she just sucked in her breath and continued marching her way.

Sometimes, Hinata did feel weak. She felt that it was the right thing to do, to have the title of heiress removed from her. She had her moments where she wished she could have proved them wrong but at the end of the day she knows herself better than anyone else and knows that wasn't true. She was no leader, Hinata was nothing but a follower. She wasn't able to take reins of her clan and continue their prosperity. The burden of every single life of her clan members was too much, especially at such a young age, even her father shoved down everything he knew into her mind. Hanabi, on the other hand, was able to understand and hold her head high, even with the mighty responsibility that was now carried on her shoulders.

 _"_ _I used to think I was fated to take your position once they made me heiress. However, I remember once I saw you train and create your own jutsu and that mindset of mine kind of changed. I don't know how to describe it really, but I realized that I still looked up to you. You made me think about how our clan treats our own people and I've decided I'm going to change that. In order to do that, I will take the position as heiress, bear the burden of the responsibility and understand my people. I promise you that, onee-san!"_

Hinata thought back to Hanabi's response.

She smiled to herself and a small chuckle escaped her lips. Her little sister was definitely an ambitious one, and she was thankful for that.

"Whatcha' smiling to yourself for, little one?"

Hinata's head shot up once she heard the male's voice.

She activated her Byakugan but before she could use it for her purpose, an arm was wrapped around her neck and pulling her back.

 _He's fast!_

Hinata grimaced as the hold around her neck got tighter as she tried to tug it off. She kicked and struggled under the man's grip but he refused to let go, even when she tried to bite his arm. He was no ordinary civilian man, he had great strength, which must've meant he was either a chunin or jounin.

Once he got a better grip on her, he struggled to lead her to the back of a stone wall. She dragged her feet against the rocky pavement to get a good stance but he wouldn't allow it. He was still behind her and from the angle he was at, he placed a sloppy kiss on the back of her neck. This made Hinata realize that the situation was much worse than it was before. He wasn't after her eyes, he was after something much worse.

She screamed and began thrashing around, desperate to get out of his grips.

She was panicking, which was the worst thing she could have done.

Ever since the war, she had been training for combat and she was more prepared for a fight than the position she was currently in. She didn't know what to do, she never trained for this.

"Don't resist something you want," he hissed, tightening his grip and ran his wet tongue against the nape of her neck.

"Let go!" She screamed, gathering chakra in her hands as she continued to kick. If she could gather enough chakra, she could use it at the right moment to attack him for an escape. She used her Byakugan to find the best way to dislocate something but she struggled to think as the man was getting ready to do something else to her.

His hand snaked around her side and headed for the direction of her right breast.

Hinata closed her eyes, waiting for the right moment to attack. She never felt his hand reach her chest, and she was released from his hold. At that very moment when his hands left her body, she quickly turned around and attempted to shove her Gentle Fist attack on the man.

That failed as the moment she stuck her hand, it was caught again, in the hold of another larger hand.

"U-Uchiha-san?" She breathed.

"He won't be waking up for awhile," Madara grumbled and motioned his head to the direction of the floor.

Her eyes traveled to the pavement and widened at the sight of the unconscious man laying on the floor. She was correct after all, he was indeed wearing the flak jacket only jounins wore.

She glanced back at Madara who was still holding her hand. His eyes weren't black like they usually were, his Mangekyo Sharingan was activated. The sight of his pained eyes made her body tense as she knew how powerful they were.

"He's under a genjutsu, I did not kill him, if that's what you're wondering," he added.

Hinata was speechless and couldn't find the energy to muster out any words. She was extremely embarrassed and ashamed of herself for not being able to fight off her own battle. She had gained the help of someone else, the man she greatly feared.

"I'm sure your father has taught you how to properly thank someone, even someone like me," Madara said. There was a devilish tone to his voice, almost as if he were teasing her in a way that made her understand who she was in the presence of.

He was actually just trying to coax her to speak so he could hear the gentle sweetness of her angelic voice.

She lowered her head and spoke, "T-Thank you, Uchiha-san."

"I'm surprised you couldn't fight him off, I waited for you to do something." Madara calmly added, "As Hyuga Hiashi's eldest daughter, I thought you would have been stronger. I may have overestimated you, Hinata. I don't know why I expected more from you."

Hinata remained quiet and lowered her head further. She didn't want to argue back and defend herself because she knew he was right. She was smart enough to know not to argue to an ex-war criminal.

She couldn't really think of an excuse as to why she wasn't able to fend off the man. By the way things were going, she wouldn't have been able to hit the jounin unless given the chance, and it didn't seem like he was going to give her that opening anytime soon.

"Quite a ninja you are," Madara commented.

She raised her head and furrowed her brows at the man as a thought popped into her mind.

"You waited for me to do something?"

"Yes, I saw the whole thing happen from the start."

"How?"

Madara was a blunt man, he had no shame. "I've been following you all day," he said.

Hinata became silent again. She didn't know whether she was afraid or thankful that he followed her. If he hadn't, she might've still been caught in that ugly situation but at the same time, she was trembling with fear at the thought of a murderer following her.

She needed to leave. Immediately.

She bowed and whispered, "T-Thank you for saving me, I am in debt to you. It is late though, I must get going, Uchiha-san." She turned around and took a few steps but she heard him speak.

"So soon?" He asked. Madara didn't want her to leave, not yet.

"I-I have no business staying out in the streets this late."

"Very well then," he sighed.

She walked for about a minute before a large figure came to her side. She didn't bother to look at the person, she had already known who it was, but Hinata didn't bother to say anything. Fear kept her from opening her mouth and questioning his intentions. She also didn't want to retaliate due to the fear of the consequences. She felt no right to object to anything he did, he just saved her life after all.

The walk home remained quiet but it was also peaceful. The moonlight casted a harmonious light over the village and the walk home was calm. The main road was lit with lanterns and shops that were still open, and the streets were filled with the nightlife of Konoha.

She didn't bother to say a word to Madara as she was deep in thought the whole time. She began rethinking about the whole incident and the options to prevent such a thing from happening again. She was still embarrassed by the fact that she had to be saved by another person because she was too weak to get out of a death grip. She didn't know how to react as she was never put in a situation like that in her life before. Hinata had only managed to create a pathetic plan that was a failure.

 _At this point, I'll never make jounin!_

Hinata sighed to herself as she approached the Hyuga compound.

The figure beside her stopped walking and she noticed. She glanced at him and waited for him to speak, hoping he'd give a clue as to why he followed her home.

"I need to go get that jounin I left behind, I'm going to take him to the Hokage. If you tell anyone I did this for you, I'll kill you," he proclaimed before he turned around and went walking back to the direction they had just come from. "You're in debt to me, I'll just remind you that. You call me Madara from now on."

She blankly stared at his back as she watched him disappear from sight. She finally released a deep breath that she had been holding and sighed. Her tensed muscles relaxed and she was now feeling safe, as she was right in front her compound, alone.

 _What's the supposed to mean?_

Hinata bit her lip and reconsidered his words and actions. He had walked beside her all the way to her house and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She wasn't sure how that made sense but she chose to ignore it because Madara was a mysterious man and she had no reason to overthink his actions. He did what he wanted to do, no explanation needed.

"Lady Hinata!" She heard Ko yell.

The ex-heiress turned around and found Ko standing in the doorway with his Byakugan activated and breathing heavily. He was beyond angry.

"Where have you been? I was worried sick about you," he mumbled, deactivating his Byakugan, and ran towards the girl. He embraced her in a worrisome hug and held her tightly. Hinata could feel his body shaking and guilt immediately washed over her.

She knew Ko would be worried, but she had hoped that it wouldn't have been this drastic.

She let herself get swallowed into his hug, wrapping her arms around his back in response.

"I-I am so sorry Ko. I would have been here sooner if," she paused, not sure if it was a good idea to bring up her little incident on the way there, but decided not to say anything, "If I didn't walk home. I should have jumped through the rooftops."

"I was really considering to report you to the Hokage as missing," Ko sighed as he pulled away from their embrace.

"I take full responsibility for my actions, I really am sorry," Hinata said. She lowered her head, taking a step away from Ko as she did so.

Ko proceeded to give her the lecture she knew was coming from the start. She listened to every single word he said and let it sink into her teenage brain. She didn't mind his tedious lecture, she enjoyed listening to him, but his little ramblings of wisdom were never helpful. He had a thing for rambling at times and when he caught himself doing so, he'd apologize immediately.

* * *

 _"_ _Where are you going?" Madara asked his fiancé._

 _Yuna finishing packing a couple of apples into her basket before she answered, "I will be heading out with some of the other women to see the Kuki clan's estate. It will be a little field trip for me, I'm excited."_

 _Madara stubbornly moved in front of the door, "I'm not letting you leave."_

 _The smile brewing on Yuna's face disappeared. She frowned ever so slightly, causing a sting of pain to suddenly appear in his chest._

 _"_ _Why not?"_

 _Madara scoffed, as if the answer were obvious enough, "What if something happens? What if you get ambushed on the way there? What if the Kuki clan break off their alliance and hold you hostage? What if they betray us while you're there and the Senjus come? I can't risk you leaving the estate. The only way I can protect you is if you're by my side."_

 _"_ _Madara-kun, that wouldn't be protecting me, that'd be imprisonment," Yuna sighed._

 _Madara opened his mouth to respond to her comment but closed it because he didn't know what to say._

 _Yuna took a few steps until she was in front of the Uchiha and then rested her hand on top of his cheek. Madara allowed himself to lean into her hand and enjoyed the warmth it gave him. The corners of her lips were slightly upturned, giving the appearance of a small smile, although it didn't seem like it was actually a smile._

 _"_ _Ever since I arrived here, eleven months ago, I've never left the estate. You know how my parents kept me hidden and because of that, I haven't seen much of this world." Yuna slid her hand to the back of his neck and pulled him down into a hug. His chin rested on her shoulder while her hand on the back of his neck remained in place. She whispered, "Please, let me go."_

 _Madara was a stubborn teenager, more stubborn than he should've been for a kid his age. He had to be, he wanted to be fit for the title of clan head. Yet, it was always the woman he loved that made him melt like ice. Whenever he was under her touch, he was no longer the heir of an infamous clan, he was just himself._

 _Madara pulled himself away. "Very well then. If this is what you want, you can go-"_

 _"_ _Ah! Thank you so much Madara-kun!" Yuna yelped happily and jumped. When she did jump, she accidentally bumped her head into his nose._

 _"_ _I'm so s-sorry," Yuna quickly gasped._

 _He waved it off and took a seat on the chair beside him._

 _He created a sneaky plan, pretending he was hurt to gain something he wanted. He held onto his nose and lowered his head._

 _"_ _Oh geez, I'm so clumsy," she said as she lowered herself to get a better look at his face. She pulled his chin to herself to see if she had made any damage, "Let me check…"_

 _Madara was looking at her with a playful smirk._

 _He closed the gap between them and kissed her tenderly on the lips. After a minute of surrendering herself, she quickly pulled back._

 _"_ _I-I have to g-get going, the women are waiting for m-me," Yuna whispered. She grabbed the basket she packed earlier and made her way towards the exit._

 _"_ _Wait, let me walk you," Madara called out to her._

 _He caught up with Yuna and walked her to the outskirts of the compound. He made sure that she had the things needed for her little quest and offered her more things. Yuna denied all other suggestions as they were unnecessary._

 _Once they were outside the compound, Madara watched her leave with the rest of the women. He stayed there watching until they were out of sight. He had even ordered a fellow clansmen to follow the group until they left the estate, just to make sure they really did leave safely. When he got the message that they left without any complications, Madara walked back to the compound feeling a little relieved._

 _"_ _You walked her off?" Madara heard Izuna say._

 _Izuna was sitting beside the pond with a stick in his hand._

 _"_ _Yeah, why?"_

 _"_ _You never walk women off," he observed teasingly._

 _"_ _This one is different," Madara said with confidence._

 _Izuna laughed at his elder brother's comment._

Madara shifted in his bed uncomfortably as he attempted to try a better position to sleep in, on his horribly stiff mattress.

He had left the trash of a jounin in front of the Hokage's office with a note. He knew the man wouldn't escape free if he had woken up from the genjutsu. The Anbu following Madara would have inspected what he left and read the note.

"Troublesome woman, making me clean her mess," he muttered under his breath.

He decided to lay on his back, as he wasn't tired anyway, it's not like he did much, he spent the rest of his day following the Hyuga for some research. He found out that the young girl was not hers, after all, it belonged to the Third Hokage's son and a red-eyed lover.

Madara wanted to finish his day training but had gotten distracted rather foolishly.

Though it wasn't a complete failure, he did manage to speak with Hinata.

At times, he did wish he was speaking with Yuna, but Hinata was close enough. Besides their identical appearance, they were both gentle and kind girls. He knew Hinata was a pure girl, he just wasn't sure how pure was she, but he planned to find out.

* * *

"The usual? You sure you don't want to try daffodils, gladiolus, hydrangea, pink carnation, Edelweiss, and zinnias are also appropriate!" Ino quickly said as she blabbered about another list of flowers she recommended.

Hinata giggled and waved off her friend's suggestions, "No thank you Ino-chan. I will stick with the white lilies like I always do. Those are the only flowers I will ever put on Neji niisan's grave."

Ino huffed a piece of hair away from her face and reached for the bouquet of flowers. She handed them to Hinata and said, "You sure you don't want the zinnias?"

Hinata shook her head and held the bouquet close to her chest.

"I'm fine with this, thank you though, it means so much. Have a nice day Ino-chan!" The dark blue-haired girl walked out of the flower shop without waiting for a response.

It was that time of the month where Hinata would visit Neji's grave in the Konoha graveyard.

She would have liked to visit him daily but the wound in her heart was still too fresh and she couldn't bear the pain of seeing his grave every single day. Hinata didn't want to let him go just yet, she still held onto him dearly as if she could cry him back to life. The only person she could blame for his death was herself. If she hadn't recklessly jumped in front of Naruto, he wouldn't have done the same for her. Despite that, she understood why he did it as it was the same reason why she jumped in front of Naruto. It was to protect the person they loved.

The Hyuga calmly walked through the roads of her precious village, greeting familiar faces as she went by.

"There she is," a lady said.

"The Byakugan Princess?"

"The heiress of the Hyuga clan, she's gorgeous!"

"Haven't you heard? When she was younger, her little sister surpassed her, and she lost the title of the heiress."

"To her younger sister?"

"Can you believe that?"

"They call her the failure of her clan."

"What a pretty face, she would've made a beautiful heiress. It's truly a shame."

Hinata remained quiet as she reluctantly listened to a group of women speak amongst themselves.

She was undisturbed by their chatter and continued walking by with her head up. It was nothing new, people had talked about her since she was nothing but a mere child.

After all, she was the daughter of Hiashi, the current clan head of the acclaimed Hyuga clan.

She _was_ the heiress.

She wasn't surprised that her name was in people's mouths.

Hinata's mind wandered off to many different subjects as she walked continued to walk. The thoughts in her mind were put to a stop as she approached the graveyard.

Step by step, her feet felt heavier as Neji's grave came into view. The grip on the bouquet tightened, unintentionally breaking a few stems of the white flowers.

 _I can do this._

The moment Hinata stood in front of her cousin's grave, she bowed, placed the white lilies with the rest of the flowers that were on his tomb and dropped to her knees. The weight of her body became too heavy, making her knees buckle before her body fell down onto them.

"Niisan," Hinata breathed, "I haven't seen you since last month. I hope that wasn't too long but I do try my best to come as much as I can."

She reached over to caress one of the petals of the white lilies she brought.

"I bought the white lilies, your favorite."

 _"_ _Hinata-sama!" Neji yelled as ran over to the heiress._

 _The five year-old Hyuga girl was sitting down with a couple of flowers in her lap. She was pulling at the petals of some roses when her head popped up by the sudden mention of her name._

 _"_ _Hinata-sama, your father is…" Neji breathed heavily as he began to speak but stopped himself when he saw what the girl was doing. He saw a bunch of lovely flowers in front of her but he took note of the mess of petals she was in. "What are you doing?"_

 _"_ _I-I am l-learning how to p-press flowers," Hinata quietly replied, lowering her head. The reaction her cousin gave her made her feel as if it were something she shouldn't do._

 _"_ _Oh, if you can, can you press some white lilies for me?" Neji asked._

 _Hinata looked up at him with eyes wide, Neji had never asked her for anything ever before._

 _She smiled nervously and nodded, she was happy._

Hinata smiled to herself as she recalled the moment she anchored white lilies to Neji.

"You, later on, told me that white lilies were your mother's favorite. Even a few years ago when I asked about the pressed lilies, you told me you destroyed the frame because it reminded you too much of your mother," Hinata sighed.

She pulled herself together and began thinking about positive things, there was no need to be so grim at a cemetery.

"I was training with Lee-san yesterday and he got a good punch on me. My ribs still hurt, I have a good feeling that it will leave a big bruise. Oh! I told you last month that I had some suspicions about Lee-san and Tenten-chan but guess what? I was right, those two do have a thing going on. I didn't expect to see that coming, did you?" Hinata paused for a few seconds as if she were waiting for a response that she knew she was never going to get, "I guess not."

She bit her lip and pulled her hand back to her lap, bringing a white petal along. She planned to press it later on.

"The last few days have been pretty strange for me. My father isn't here, so I was asked to check on Uchiha Madara with my Byakugan. With just my luck, when I was checking him, he woke up from his coma. The next day he requested to see me and I did see him but it was rather awkward. Today, he saved me from an incident because apparently, he was following me," Hinata said.

She scratched the back of her head as she thought about what she just said. It seemed confusing, but she stated the facts and the facts were a bit too odd for her liking.

"Should I hate him?"

This was a question for herself but mostly for Neji. If only her cousin could answer, then she would finally know what to do about the situation, but he couldn't answer her. He was dead because the Ten-Tails killed him. The very same Ten-Tails that was controlled by Madara and Obito.

 _He died because of me as well._

Hinata grimaced as the thought came into her brain. It was painful but true, she was in no position to hold anyone accountable for Neji's death.

"I miss you Neji niisan. I'm very lost without you but I promise, I am trying my best to be strong," she stated. Her voice began to quiver and immediately rushed her sentence. She had told herself she wouldn't cry. "You told me, when we were kids, that you would make me strong. Do you remember that?"

She quickly got to her feet and rubbed her eyes, using it as an excuse to wipe away any escaping tears that she refused to let Neji see.

"If this is your way of making me strong, then I will gladly become strong for you Neji niisan!" Hinata proudly exclaimed. She bowed and began walking towards the exit of the cemetery.

She fastened her pace and kept her head low to keep anyone from catching the tears that were falling down the curves of her pale cheeks.

* * *

"Good afternoon Ayame-san!" Hinata cheerfully greeted as she approached the renowned ramen shop.

"Good afternoon to you too, Hinata-sama. What can I get for you today?"

Hinata took a seat and settled her arms on top of the counter. She looked over at the menu, searching for anything that she wanted to try. She gave up and decide to go for the usual.

"Can I get the miso ramen with extra pork please," Hinata ordered.

"Sure thing," Ayame replied before she turned around to assemble Hinata's order.

Hinata patiently waited for her meal in silence. Teuchi's daughter was a nice acquaintance of hers, but they weren't close or anything of that sort.

"I miss that boy already," Ayame began, "he seems to always be out of the village."

"N-Naruto-kun?" The Byakugan Princess asked.

"Yeah, it's a real shame that he's always busy. I always tell my father that Naruto deserves a break but it seems like that won't ever happen. If he's not saving the village one day, he's doing something else."

"Naruto-kun always keeps himself busy, he can't ever keep still," Hinata quietly said.

"That's good but I feel like there will be a day when the weight of the village on his shoulders will become too much to bear. Sometimes I worry about the kid, you know? I just want him to be happy, whether he's helping the village or when he's with his friends, that kid deserves to be happy."

"He is a strong person, he can overcome anything."

"You're right but if he stays occupied all the damn time, he's never going to find a wife," Ayame concurred. She pulled out a bowl and poured the contents of the broth and noodles into it. She put some pork, an egg, chopped green onions, and narutomaki into the bowl as well. Ayame placed the bowl in front of Hinata, handing her chopsticks right after.

"Thank you, Ayame-san," Hinata thanked her and grabbed the chopsticks.

As she slurped on her noodles, she tried to push away her thoughts of what Ayame has said.

 _Naruto will marry someone one day, I'm sure of it. Whether that person will be me, I'm not so sure of._

After several minutes of eating in peace, Hinata finished her meal, paid for her food, said goodbye to Ayame, and left for a peaceful walk. Taking a light stroll during the afternoon was blissful to the Hyuga girl, especially after she's eaten a good meal to satisfy her hunger. She could've eaten way more but she didn't have enough money on her.

She slowly was treading along the main path that would lead her back home. The visit from Neji's grave drained most of her energy for the day and all she wanted was to take a quick little nap to replenish the energy she had lost.

 _A nap sounds wonderful._

Hinata continued to quickly walk down the road, in a rush to jump into her bed and close her eyes. She planned to train with Shino after her nap as it was something they had already discussed beforehand.

 **A/N: I told you guys I would update every week or two in the first chapter and I plan to honor that. I might've got too excited when I said every Sunday in the last post but trust that I'll update every 1-2 weeks. Also, flashbacks won't be an every chapter thing, I tend to think it takes up space but I'll add them where I see fit. Thanks for the people who reviewed the last chapter! Please review and let me know your thoughts because I get motivated when I do read your guys' thoughts!**


	6. Chapter 5

Kurenai walked back into the living room with two cups of tea in her hand. She handed a blue cup to Hinata and kept the white one for herself before taking a seat in front of her welcomed guest. The Yuhi took a small sip before placing it down on the coffee table, settled her hands on her lap, and glanced at Hinata with a gentle smile to continue their conversation.

"Thank you for taking the time out of your day to speak with me, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata said.

"It's no problem at all, you know I'll always have time for you and the boys. You three are like my children, I'm here for you guys always. Don't you ever think otherwise. Now, I'm all eyes and ears, what's going on? You don't usually reach out to me that often, I'm a little concerned. Is it something important, dear?" Kurenai asked.

Hinata remained quiet for a few seconds trying to assemble the correct words she wanted to say. She wanted to come out and blatantly say what was on her mind, but she was afraid that it would come out wrong. Hinata hadn't necessarily planned what she was going to say, she had just ran into Kurenai in the streets and stopped to ask about something important. Next thing she knew, she ended up at her old sensei's house with a cup of green tea in her hands.

She took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I want to become a jounin," Hinata exclaimed.

A few silent seconds passed before Kurenai cleared her throat. She grabbed her cup once more, took a sip, and placed it back down.

Settling herself for her response, Hinata tensed.

"You want to become a jounin?" Kurenai repeated.

The Hyuga hesitantly nodded but her eyes were full of absolute determination.

The two kunoichi's sat in silence once more.

The ticking from the clock in the kitchen was the only that dared to make a sound. Hinata's fire and courage were slowly fizzling out as the silence grew longer.

She had somewhat expected this reaction, as it was an unlikely question to be asked, especially from a girl like Hinata. She had some hope though, that she would be proved wrong.

Kurenai remained quiet for a couple of more minutes as she pondered the possibilities on how to respond. It was a sudden statement that came from her former student, but the Yuhi wondered why she wanted to become a jounin so suddenly. She didn't recall Hinata taking an interest the rank before. She was somewhat glad she wasn't asking to become Anbu, that would have been troubling to hear from such a kind hearted girl.

"You understand that jounin are ranked as military captains?"

"Y-Yes," Hinata replied, fearing the response she knew that was coming.

"Do you think you're capable of leading a team? In any case, if you do become a jounin, you could be given a genin team. Can you handle the responsibility of their lives and leading them to become successful ninja?"

"Do you?"

Kurenai sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, "Do I what?"

"Do you think I'm capable?" Hinata nervously asked. This was the approval she wanted, the approval she needed!

Kurenai could only sigh as a response. She wasn't going to going to fill Hinata's head with unrealistic thoughts just to make her happy, she was going to be honest, even if it pained her to say the things she was about to say.

Kurenai reached over to grab the Hyuga's hands and held them in her own. She looked straight into the pale eyes that stared back into her crimson reflection.

"I do not think you can," Kurenai bluntly stated.

In Hinata's mind, she felt as if someone had stabbed her heart with a sword.

The color drained from her face leaving it a stark white. Her eyes widened for a second but returned to their casual state as she pulled her hands back from Kurenai's grasp. She wasn't surprised to hear those words, not at all. Hinata had anticipated the harsh honesty, which was why she asked Kurenai, the woman who knew her best. Most people she knew would have just went along with the idea but Kurenai would never lie, not ever to her precious ex-student.

"Hinata, it's not that I don't believe you can become a jounin, it is just that you're not ready for such a task. You're young, there's no need to rush. I'm not saying this to hurt you, but I don't think you're ready to lead a team and your skills are not good enough to change rank," the red eyed woman explained. She was firm with her words, not showing any signs of remorse to the teenager in front of her.

"I-I understand," Hinata said.

Kurenai watched the teen take a deep breath, exhale, and smile. It was as if her mood had changed completely.

"Silly me, asking things like that," Hinata softly laughed. Her expression appeared much more relaxed but Kurenai noticed her eyes waver for a split second. If she hadn't known Hinata as well as she did, she would have never perceived the minute action.

"Hinata…"

"This tea is quite delicious isn't it? I love green tea, the shops never make them as good as yours," Hinata chirped after she took a big sip from the cup.

 _Why do you hide yourself when you're hurt?_

Kurenai wanted to ask but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Yeah, it's very delicious," the jounin replied, helping Hinata change the conversation to a much lighter one.

To the Byakugan Princess, any hope she had about becoming a jounin was now lost beneath a sea of despair and discouragement. She just wanted to be strong, just like Neji wanted her to be.

It was always in the back of her mind to become a jounin, even when she had just become a chunin. Neji even recommended that she try out for the jounin exams, even if she were to fail. But now that the only person who had genuinely believed she could make it, was gone, now she only had Kurenai and Naruto. However, Naruto wasn't at the village at the moment, and Kurenai had just told her that she wasn't ready.

The week before, when she visited Neji's grave, she had told herself that she would become strong for his sake.

During that week, she recalled the dream when Neji became a jounin and how he recommended her to become one as well. Upon remembering the vivid dream she had, she made a decision to fulfill Neji's wishes.

 _It's what he would've wanted._

She was certain of it.

Nonetheless, she just wanted someone to give her a hard push to succeed but finding the right person to do that was difficult.

She had many friends who could support and cheer her on, but she knew none who could dedicate their time and skills to help her become a jounin.

Her last option was Kurenai but it seemed like her old sensei believed it wasn't her time just yet.

 _Maybe she's right…_

Hinata cleared her throat and stood up, "I should get going."

Kurenai watched her stand up with a worried look. It was easy for her to distinguish a troubled Hinata. Perhaps she had been a little too blunt with the way she said things.

"Wait…" The word left her mouth but the person she intended it for had already disappeared. Kurenai grunted and slammed her fist down on the table, causing it to break in half. "Damn it," she hissed to herself.

* * *

 _One more._

She threw a punch.

 _Another one._

She threw a harder punch.

 _Another one!_

She jumped in the air and swung her foot to hit the trunk of the tree.

 _Faster._

She twirled again with greater speed.

 _Harder!_

With a yell, Hinata kicked the tree with all her might.

After the last one, she couldn't handle any more training and fell down to her knees. She was panting excessively and struggled to catch her breath.

 _I have to keep training!_

Hinata let out a small groan as she held onto the tree that she was just aggressively attacking, and tried to pick herself up.

She managed to stand up for a few seconds before her knees buckled and she collapsed back down.

She laid on her back as she stared at the tree's leaves shuffle gently against each other in the wind. It was a quiet day, a day she could have been outside pressing flowers next to the pond in her compound, but instead, she was training nonstop at a field.

She should've been listening to the way the wind whistled in the air, or the way the birds chirped a song tune, but she was focused on the sound of her heart beating.

Ko, who was monitoring her training, had left an hour ago to retrieve some water and bandages. It took him some time since he forgot his money at the compound and lost his way to the field but he finally returned.

The first thing he saw was Hinata laying on the ground breathing heavily. He quickly ran to her side to make sure she was ok.

"Lady Hinata!" Ko yelled, "That's enough for today."

Hinata weakly shook her head, using any strength she had left to move.

"Your knuckles are bleeding and your ankle looks swollen," Ko snapped, "We're going back to the compound right now."

He struggled to lift her up but once he got a grip on her, he carried her in his arms and they returned to the compound.

Hinata hadn't noticed when they arrived back home. During the whole run back, she drifted off unconsciously a few times.

After a few more days, Hinata returned back to the same field and continued to stubbornly train, with or without Ko's permission. Even between missions, Hinata would try to find the time to train. Each time, she'd find herself not advancing and try to train even harder but that would always put her at a disadvantage to get injured. She didn't care. She'd suffer through the pain. What was success without a little pain?

Despite training constantly for a week, Hinata felt discouraged by the lack of improvement and decided to take a break for a day.

It was a late Friday night and a scandalous slumber party was heading off to a good start. The hostess of the evening was Sakura, as it was her turn to host the slumber party that month. It was a ritual Ino suggested after the war ended, having gotten closer to her fellow comrades, she decided she wanted everyone to be even closer.

Everyone liked the idea and so began their monthly ritual.

Hinata quietly laid in Sakura's bed as she listened to the group of kunoichi chatter amongst themselves in an odd conversation. She didn't bother to join in, she enjoyed listening to their stories rather than participating in their silliness. However, tonight was a different story.

"No! That never happened, I'm the one who rejected him. Stop making up lies Forehead," Ino growled to her best friend.

"You're just mad that he rejected you, when you clearly wanted him," Sakura teased.

Ino grabbed the closest pillow she could find and threw it at Sakura's head with all her might. The pink haired kunoichi dodged the attack and returned the pillow back with a powerful throw. With the monster like strength Sakura was known for, Ino quickly ducked out of the way and to her relief, wasn't hit.

"Hey! You used chakra to throw that didn't you?" Ino barked before she stood up.

Before things could get heated, Tenten nervously said, "Calm down guys, save that for another day. Let's keep going with the stories, I'm dying to know what happened with the guy."

Ino's attitude immediately changed to a much more jubilant state and sat down to continue speaking about her story.

While that was going on, Hinata's eyelids began to feel heavy and the idea of sleep sounded splendid at the moment. She wasn't really in the mood to listen to gossip that night anyway. Hinata turned to the side to find a more comfortable position and once she settled into the perfect spot, she slowly drifted to sleep.

That only last a few seconds until she heard a shriek that came from the one and only Yamanaka Ino.

"Hyuga!"

Hinata's body suddenly jolted up messily and she fell off the bed with a loud thud. This caused the other girls to laugh and they began to tease the dark blue haired girl.

"Ouch…" Hinata groaned.

"You okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Ino said in between giggles, but she was genuinely apologetic.

The blonde walked over to the Hinata and helped her up.

"Yeah, you scared me though," Hinata said with a smile.

"You're tired already? It's only eight o'clock. We haven't even brought out the sake yet," Sakura asked.

Hinata explained to the girls that she has been having some rough days lately. Not wanting to go into full detail, she only told them that she had a lot on her mind and training more than usual, so that was draining her energy away. It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either, it was a mix of both. She didn't want to bring up the jounin situation and her little encounter with Kurenai. It would have brought down everyone's mood and she didn't want that to happen. In any case, Hinata was beyond exhausted. The last few nights she lacked sleep due to unknown reasons she could figure out.

She even offered to go home but the girls refused to let her leave as it was a rule for everyone to sleep at the host's house.

"Go take a walk or something to clear your mind, it helps me sometimes," Ino suggested as she shuffled a deck of cards in her hands.

"I'll go with you!" Tenten chimed in.

"No it's ok, I'll go by myself," Hinata said, then proceed to grab her jacket and slip it on. "Thank you though, Tenten-chan. I'll be back in a bit."

The group of girls muttered a 'stay safe' and continued blabbering about the topic they were discussing previously.

Hinata quietly closed the door behind her and stepped out into the cold starkness of the night. The moon barely peeked out between the moving clouds, but it never stayed in sight for long before it was covered by clouds again. It was still a gorgeous night, like it always was, every single time she looked into the sky during the evenings.

 _Naruto-kun, I wonder what you're doing right now…_

Hinata quietly hummed to herself as she continued walking down the street. She didn't really know where she was heading but she just allowed her feet to carry herself to wherever, she knew this village like the back of her hand.

With that being said, Hinata managed to find herself in the busiest part of Konoha after curfew. The area was mostly filled with bars, little restaurants, and snack vendors who worked during the late hours. There were many people as it was a Friday and the night was still young and booming.

Ko usually told Hinata to stay away from this part of town and she did up until she became good friends with Ino. Ko always warned her about the brothels and the dirty people of Konoha always coming out to play in this area, especially at night. It was popular amongst the single jounin men but in this area, you could find just about anyone.

The area wasn't as bad as Ko made it out to be, but it was an area she enjoyed to be in. Hinata mostly went to buy snacks from the vendors and that's what she planned to do that night.

She loved sweets and nothing could cheer her up more than something warm and sweet.

She approached her favorite dessert vendor, run by a sweet old lady named Nami.

"Hello Nami-san," Hinata greeted with a big smile.

She saw the beautiful array of delicious sweets and desserts, and the sadness she had earlier that night had completely disappeared.

"Hello there Hinata-san, what can I get for you today?"

"I'd like the usual please."

Nami frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry dear, I ran out of the last andagi. I'm currently baking a new batch, it'll be ready in ten minutes. Can you wait?"

"Of course I can," Hinata said. With that, Nami turned around to continue whatever she was prepping.

Hinata patiently waited and took a seat on a stool in front of Nami's little vending setup. Hinata figured she'd bring back some food back for the girls for a little snack before they brought out the sake. Although Hinata never drinks with them, she likes to have fun as well, watching them drink.

After several minutes, Nami called to Hinata that the goodies were ready.

Taking ahold of the warm paper bag that was handed to her, Hinata used her free hand to give pay for the treats. With the extra coins she had left, she dropped them into the tips-jar and bid Nami a good night.

The Hyuga slowly walked back to Sakura's house but made a quick stop a bench to sit down and eat a couple andagi to quench her hunger.

Hinata loved sweets, something even her father called a weakness.

Even knowing that, the smell of delicious deep fried buns were calling to her. She was tempted and she succumbed to the temptation of one of her favorites desserts. Her number one favorite, was of course, cinnamon buns.

* * *

 _"_ _I'm sorry for your loss, my son."_

 _Madara felt a firm hand grab onto his shoulder in an act of empathy from his father. He'd been hearing those words ever since that tragic day when he lost the light of his pathetic world. He asked the doctors to revive her but they all looked at each other, wondering if Madara was asking for the impossible. They wondered if he heard a beating heart in that cold, lifeless body. They tried anyway, foolishly trying to attempt to resuscitate the dead body of a beautiful girl. Even though all endeavors failed, he refused to accept it. It was only until Izuna sat Madara down, looked him in the eyes and forced him to acknowledge the reality._

 _During the funeral, Madara was staring at his clansmen finish covering up the grave with dirt._

 _Standing still with a stoic expression rested upon his face, no one dared to bother the mourning Uchiha. No one did except his father and brother, who stood right beside him._

 _"_ _Things like this happen, it was only a matter of time," Tajima stated. "One cannot deny what is meant to be."_

 _Ignoring his father's words, Madara continued to watch the men pile on more dirt._

 _He wanted revenge._

 _He wanted death._

 _"_ _Father, you can't say that," Izuna muttered under his breath._

 _"_ _Death is certain, life is not. I need you understand this lesson as well Izuna. If you want to live, you must get stronger to defeat those who can hurt you. Your brother wasn't strong enough to defeat the Uzumaki and look what has happened now," Tajima grumbled to his son._

 _"_ _You speak as though you were able to stop those group of men from torturing and killing mother," Madara spat._

 _"_ _Elder brother," Izuna pleaded, "don't speak of such things in front of father."_

 _Madara remained quiet, not wanting to ambush Izuna with a series of derogatory phrases and words. Instead, he bit back his tongue and peered at the grave. They had completely finished burying her under six feet of the earth's rich soil._

 _The sad reality began to dawn on him but this time, it didn't hit hard as it did before. He was no longer sad, but there was another disturbance boiling within himself. It was anger, the scarlet emotion that consumed many people in his clan._

 _He didn't deserve this._

 _He just wanted to end the clan war against the Senjus._

 _He wanted to defeat Hashirama._

 _He wanted to marry Yuna._

 _He wanted to have children._

 _He wanted a daughter and a son. He'd dream of a little boy named Kioshi who'd grow tall and strong to take over his own position of clan head. Kioshi would have his mother's dark blue hair but carry his own spiky hair and eyes. It wouldn't be as long, it'd grow a little past his ears. Then there was his daughter, a little princess to spoil selfishly. She'd have her pale eyes and black, long hair just his like his own. She'd be kind yet fierce, and wouldn't have a boyfriend until thirty. This was the perfect family he'd always dreamt of having, except none of this was possible now._

 _Madara lost the woman who could have given him that dream._

 _He knew he could love no other woman._

 _He wanted to blame someone for his faults. He wanted to see blood. He'd make someone pay for this loss and die an excruciating death._

 _"I want to speak with Uzumaki Tadashi about this, if he's clan leader he should know the meaning behind this. Izuna, send a messenger."_

 _Tajima stepped in, "You are in no position to make such orders. As clan head, I do not authorize it."_

 _Turning around with eyes glowing red, Madara glared at his father._

 _"_ _You old man, don't authorize anything."_

 _"_ _Brother, calm down, please," Izuna intruded. He stood his ground between_ _t_ _wo of the most powerful men in his clan. He was afraid but he was the only one who could calm down their large personalities. The other members of the clan just watched in fear._

 _"_ _Watch yourself, my foolish son. I am not only your leader but your father as well," Tajima grumbled lowly._

 _"_ _She didn't deserve to die!" Madara yelled, "Bring her back to me!"_

"Agh!"

A loud gasp erupted from the lips of the Uchiha as he quickly sat up on his bed.

Eyes wide open and slightly hazed, the only thing that could be seen was the red glow of his activated Mangekyo Sharingan.

Staring into the cold darkness of the room, he realized where he was. The familiar surroundings slowly came back to him as the moonlight shed some light through the curtains of his window. It was no longer the funeral site, but it was the apartment room he stayed at in Konohagakure.

Madara breathed heavily and tried to calm himself down. He brought a hand to his face to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, brushing away the fringe of bangs as well. With the same hand, he ran his fingers through spiky hair, noticing the sweat from his scalp.

 _The dreams are coming back again._

He felt tension around him. He assumed it was the Anbu on guard from his strange awakening.

Madara rolled his eyes in irritation, ignoring the thoughts in his mind that urged him to deal with his Anbu guards once in for all.

With a small grunt, he scooted off his bed and slipped on a pair of pants. He grabbed the same fishnet shirt he wore earlier that day and put it on, not caring that it was dirty from the training he had done.

He grabbed his apartment keys and headed towards the door. After kicking his boots on, he made sure he locked the door.

 _I need a walk._

Hands tucked warmly in the pockets of his pants, he walked out of the complex and began to walk.

He didn't care to bring a cloak to cover himself, if anyone saw him, he'd let the lazy Hokage deal with the problem. Kakashi was the one who took up the favor from Hashirama, it wasn't Madara's issue at the end of the day. He'd do as he pleased until the Hokage either kills him or kicks him out the village, two options that weren't possible anyways.

Wandering aimlessly around the village didn't do much for Madara.

He got a few stares, all of which he gladly returned.

He was just trying to waste time until he grew sleepy again. It was only eight o'clock, he had no plans.

He was finished for the day and had hoped to sleep through the rest of the night, but obviously that didn't work out.

Madara had no friends, no family, and no one to talk to. Who would keep him company anyways? Not that he needed any of those things, he had lived a majority of his life alone after the age of 20. He knows the life of isolation—

 _Hinata._

Narrowing his eyes in the direction of her chakra signature, he stopped walking.

 _Did she not learn her lesson the last time she was out this late?_

Letting a deep, annoyed sigh escape his lips, Madara turned to the direction where he'd find the Byakugan Princess. He hadn't planned on finding her but now that he had, he wanted to continue his plan to investigate the ex-heiress.

As he walked, Madara's mind pondered on the many questions he had about Hiashi's daughter. During the week, he had found out to the truth of Hinata's battle against her younger sister. It seemed strange to Madara to have the rightful heiress battle for the position, even if the younger sister was a genius. The Hyugas were just strange to Madara, in any way he thought of them. He used to see their eyes as something unattractive but that all changed when his fiancé came into his life.

* * *

Snacking down on a few andagi, Hinata felt some tension release.

That tension was replaced with guilt.

She should have been out in the fields training, but she was sitting in the side of the street with fried buns in her mouth.

 _What is wrong with me?_

Placing the bag of treats beside her, she swallowed whatever was chewed and solemnly stared at the floor.

 _I can't become a jounin, not like this._

She wanted to cry but fought the urge to do so.

"Hinata-chan?"

Quickly picking her head, she glanced at the direction of the voice.

"Oh, hi Kiba-kun," Hinata replied with a kind smile.

"What are you doin' out here this late? It's getting cold, you better go home. If you don't, I'm going to tell Ko-san," Kiba joked as he continued walking by.

"Where are you heading off to?" Hinata asked.

Walking the opposite direction of the Hyuga girl, he said, "I'm heading to my girlfriend's house. Her parents aren't home, so I got to get going. See ya later."

She watched him disappear as the shadows of the night swallowed him.

Hinata then released the deep breath she had been holding in. She had hoped Kiba wouldn't have noticed her glossy eyes.

"Hyuga."

The familiar voice made her jump into a defensive stance.

"Relax, I won't hurt you," Madara muttered.

"Uchi—Madara-san…what are y-you doing here?"

Taking a seat on the other side of the bench, he sighed, "Late night walking. I presume you're doing the same as well? Even after the event that occurred a few days ago, you're still coming out this late."

His tone was cold and bitter like always but to Hinata, there was a purpose for his way of speaking. She knew he means well.

"I-I can take care of myself."

Madara snorted, "I doubt that."

She stiffened. His words should not have had any effect on her but to her dismay, it stung her painfully in the chest. She didn't need his approval but this man always made her weak, back then during the war and to the present day.

The familiar feeling of discouragement had made a reappearance.

Noticing the sudden change in the air, Madara figured that his words weren't taken lightly.

"Sit down," he ordered.

Without any objection or protest, Hinata willingly sat back down on the opposite side of the bench. It was the last thing she wanted to do, being closer to a cold-blooded monster, but what was she to do? She was a twig compared to the man on her right side. All she wanted to do was shrivel up into a small ball and disappear.

Madara said, "You're so tense, if you're like that during battles, it will not get you far. You'll only be hindering yourself."

"Oh," was all she could say back.

"You seem a little different today," he observed. When he first arrived, he noticed that something was off about her. Maybe it was the way her shoulders slouched a little or maybe it was the dullness in her eyes, he just wasn't quite sure. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course everything is a-alright, I couldn't be happier," Hinata answered as she tried to play it off.

"You're a bad liar."

"I'm not l-lying."

"You Hyugas enjoy hiding your business, don't you? It's rather annoying," Madara grumbled.

Sensing the irritation in his voice, she squeaked, "I'm really fine, trust me."

"You can either tell me the truth or I'll use my Sharingan to get it out of you, whichever you prefer, Hinata."

Yet again, she wondered when they were on a first name basis.

"I-I don't understand why you want to know," she quietly said to herself but loud enough so that he could hear.

Madara smirked to himself. It was always the shy ones that surprised him.

"I saved you from the pervert, I don't think you have the right to question my intentions Hyuga," Madara challenged her. He may have sounded offended but he was merely just teasing the girl on the other side of the wooden bench.

"I apologize, Madara-san."

"Hn. I could care less about your problems, don't fret."

She was a little stunned. She thought he would've dove into more questions about her problems, but he didn't. He didn't make her feel any more uncomfortable, it was almost like he was trying to make her comfortable.

Yes, he was an evil man. To thousands of people, he deserved to die the most painful way possible. He didn't seem human at times but right now, a confused Hinata saw a man beside her. He was a complicated man with a deep past – human nonetheless. That didn't change her opinion about him, but her eyes softened.

"Thank you."

Madara's eyes widened for a spirit second.

It was a simple yet powerful reply he hadn't expected. He was lost for words, how could he reply to that? She had no reason to thank him, especially a man like him.

"For what?" He questioned. He needed answers!

"You didn't make me speak about something personal," Hinata stated as she stood up. She reached for the bag of andagi.

Madara noticed the discoloration of the bruises and scratches on her hand. He slightly frowned as a reaction to the obvious condition of her hand. It was almost repulsive, see that her once delicate, pale hands were now in bad shape.

He grabbed her hand and brought it closer to his face to observe it more clearly. Before he could count the scratches she had, she quickly tugged her hand back to her body.

"I should get going, it is l-late after all. Thank you for the small chat, goodbye now," Hinata blurted before she turned away and walked off as quickly as her little figure could take her.

Madara could have sworn seeing the faintest spread of pink on her cheeks.

 _Hinata..._

 **Author's Note: Ah! Three weeks since my last update, I'm so sorry. I wrote three versions for this chapter and I liked this one. I will never upload a chapter I'm not satisfied with. Anyways, I have a beta reader now! A big shout out to maplelie, she will be a big help from now on and I can't thank her enough. Things are going to start happening soon, so I can't wait. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions in the reviews. Until next time! Also, I'm trying to gather new ideas for my next fanfic, I'm not sure to make it with Hinata or Sakura.**


	7. Chapter 6

"Thank you for the report, you're dismissed."

Hinata had just returned from a mission and was glad to announce that it was yet another success. It wasn't a difficult mission either, it was just about a group of teens causing ruckus in a nearby town. It was no A or S-ranked mission—a C-rank to be exact— but she was glad to do it.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi's attention was brought back to the girl standing in the middle of the room.

"Yes?" He asked.

 _Tell him what you want._

"I-I'd like to be seriously considered for the next A-ranked mission, please!" She exclaimed. Her plea was followed by a very generous bow.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile. He was glad that the current generation was so eager to take on challenges: it made him feel proud. Having noticed Hinata's exponential growth, he wasn't surprised by the sudden request. She was no longer that shy, weird girl that followed Naruto, she was becoming an independent kunoichi like her sensei. He was sure going to tell Kurenai about the big request her ex-student was making.

"I'll let you know if it comes up. Mind you, if you aren't needed on the mission, I won't bother to tell you."

Hinata smiled greatly and nodded. She didn't need to thank the Hatake, the joy in her smile was enough.

"Dismissed," he added.

Once again, she bowed before she made her way to the door. She kept her calm until she had the door closed behind her.

Wasting no time, Hinata ran back home.

Even though she had just returned from an easy mission a couple of minutes ago, she was already heading off to go train. She hadn't even changed the clothes she was wearing or bothered to take a hot shower. As soon as she entered the house, she just dropped her traveling bag to the side of her bed and planned to leave just as fast. Hinata had hoped Ko was out running errands that day but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Now where are you off to now Lady Hinata?" Ko asked as he stepped in front of the door.

Hinata's little escape attempt had failed and was now met by her caretaker who was blocking the doorway.

"You know your father is returning today, you should be here dressed and clean when he arrives."

"I know Ko-san, but I promise I won't be out for long," Hinata pleaded.

"Come back before five o'clock."

With a reluctant sigh, Ko stepped out of the way.

"Thank you so much Ko-san, I will return in a little bit," she squealed happily. She would've hugged Ko but she had no time, she had to leave.

She quickly ran out the door and jumped onto the rooftops of the buildings. This was the quickest way for any ninja to travel through the village.

This might be the last time Hinata could train freely. Now that her father was arriving, her time and presence would be much needed in the household. Whether it was to help Hanabi train or to teach the young teen some etiquette, Hinata knew she would be back to helping her sister prepare for the title of clan head.

Of course she didn't mind, she loved her younger sister with all her heart. She had no problem with devoting herself to help Hanabi. She just wished that she could devote some time to herself as well. Just some time, she wasn't asking for a lot. Even with the little time she got, she'd use it all to her advantage. To become a jounin was her goal but she wondered what her father would say.

" _This is complete nonsense, you are only needed at home. There's no need for you to become a jounin."_

Hinata's father was never one to speak freely about his emotions. He spoke very little words and never said more than what needed to be said. She still was clueless to what he thought about her. He has accepted her failures but that still left an awful feeling of emptiness within her. What was the point of acceptance when he continued to shun her out? Hinata understood he was a busy man but would it hurt him to acknowledge her? All she wanted to hear him say was, "I believe in you, no matter what you do."

She didn't need to hear him say that he loved her because she already knew that. Her father had a heart like any other human. She just wished to see him open up to her, just a little.

After five minutes, she arrived at the Fifth Training Ground. It was where her beloved Team 8 used to train when they were just genins. As she stepped into the familiar surroundings, the Hyuga became nostalgic. She approached a tree that was covered with cuts from a kunai. It was all too familiar, even if the bushes and leaves were outgrown.

She could hear Kiba's childish voice yelling at Shino to control his bugs.

" _Shino! You bug head, get these damn beetles away from me!"_

" _Those are not beetles, they are a special breed of—"_

" _I don't care!"  
_  
Hinata bit her lip to hold back a laugh but there was no denying the smile playing on her lips.

How things were much simpler back then. There was no war, no Madara, and no troubles. Sasuke never left the village and Neji was still alive. He may have hated her—but he was alive.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to calm down. There was no need to get worked up. She came to practice and only practice.

Hinata took a couple of kunais from her pouch and began to walk back from the tree. There was a giant dash in the center of the trunk and she decided it would be her target for aiming. Placing a single kunai between her fingers, she activated her renowned Byakugan. It was these eyes that made her clan Konoha's strongest.

 _No, these eyes don't define me.  
_  
In a quick move, Hinata threw the kunai.

It landed right beside the dash she was aiming for.

She took another kunai into her grasp and with a more appropriate stance, she threw it.

It landed just a few centimeters off from the first kunai. Still, it wasn't spot on. She repeated the throw and once again, it was off by a centimeter or two. This cycle continued for the next several attempts she made.

She didn't understand how she was so close to hitting the target but still missed it each time. She knew her technique was perfect but according to the numerous kunais stuck around the dash, it proved otherwise.

Hinata was no Shikamaru but she knew if there was a problem with her stance or technique, she would find it.

Still, she couldn't find the reason.

Hinata continued to relentlessly throw kunais at the tree, each time they were thrown differently. As soon as the weapon left her fingers, her hand slid back into her pouch to grab another.

She shouldn't have been surprised when she saw cuts all over her pale hand but she was. What else did she expect when she shoved her fingers into pouch full of sharp objects?

Hinata examined her irritated hand that was covered in bloody cuts. She must've been so focused on her training  
to not have noticed the pain that was now becoming more evident.

She slowly sat down and decided to take a small break. Last week she passed out during training, now this? Things like this never used to happen to her before.

She unwrapped the bandages that were around her thigh and began to wrap her hand.

* * *

"What a drag, I didn't think the Hokage had this many Anbu following you," Shikamaru muttered as he took a quick glance over his shoulder. To his surprise, the group of Anbu weren't hiding at all, they were just walking nonchalantly behind the two men.

"Your Hokage's a fool that's why," Madara replied with as much energy as the man beside him.

"You shouldn't disrespect the Hokage, you won't get along with anyone here if you say things like that. You're here to make friends, not enemies."

Madara warned, "You're nothing but a kid, don't speak of things you don't understand."

Shikamaru replied with a small grunt. There was nothing to for him to say, Madara was indeed correct. The Nara may be very intelligent by usual standards, but he was still a teenager nonetheless. He was, after all, still learning.

The two men continued walking side by side through the empty streets of Konohagakure. They were near the emptier part of the village.

Shikamaru was glad that the Uchiha wasn't much of a speaker. He had no energy to keep up a conversation with a criminal or with anyone for that matter.

Shikamaru was about to leave the office to check on the Konoha Intelligence Division but Kakashi quickly asked him to retrieve some old archives from the library. Madara on the other hand, joined in for his own selfish reason. He didn't mind joining Shikamaru when Kakashi offered him to accompany the teen. He just stood up with a sullen expression and followed behind.

He had been quiet for a reason. Madara was a smart man, everything he did had a purpose. Shikamaru knew this as well and secretly kept his guard up in case anything were to happen. Nothing was for certain when it came to Uchiha Madara.

He was looking for her chakra, in hopes that he'd be able to speak to her whilst Shikamaru was unaware of his plans.

That Hyuga Hinata, the endgame goal of his plans.

She was beyond beautiful, he wouldn't deny her that. Her beauty may have even rivaled that of his precious Yuna.

She was strange indeed. Hinata wasn't quite what he expected by standards of the pretentious Hyuga. She certainly looked the part but she stuck out. She was much kinder than any other Hyuga he had ever met. She hadn't appeared judgmental towards anyone from what he's seen but even so, she treated him fairly at times.

There weren't many things that caught the interest of Madara but she was different. She was a special find that needed to be studied and analyzed to be understood. He needed to take a look in the burning fire deep within the lavender of her pale eyes.

 _Pale eyes…_

Madara began to recall a familiar pair of pupil-less eyes.

A quick image of Yuna smiling flickered into his mind.

The similarities were unreal.

Letting out a deep sigh, Madara held his head high and pushed away his pointless thoughts. Yuna was dead, gone, nothing but a memory. He wished he could join her wherever she was.

 _Damn you Hashirama. I'll kill you in the afterlife.  
_  
After another five minutes of casual walking, the men made it to their final destination. Madara didn't follow him inside, he decided he'd rather wait outside.

At last! He sensed her.

Madara turned to one of the Anbu, who defensively backed up.

"You're not worth my time. Tell the brat that I'm leaving to run my own errands."

"Wait you're not…" the Anbu trailed off as Madara disappeared within seconds.

He didn't wait for the response, he just wanted to get to Hinata as quickly as possible.

A part of Madara wanted to use his Sharingan to retain all of Hinata's thoughts and memories. It would have made getting to know her much easier and less time consuming. He wouldn't have to go out of his way to find her like he usually did since it annoyed him somewhat. However he knew that by invading her thoughts, she'd become even more suspicious of him and lose whatever ground he had gained with her. She was no longer as afraid as she used to be. Still, whenever she was in his presence, he could sense her fear.

But he was skilled at manipulation and if that was something he needed to use again, he'd do it without a second thought.

A minute or so later, Madara found himself in a field. It appeared to be a training field of some sort, a conclusion he made by observing the broken trees and gashes in the trunks. It was a serene place if you ignored the broken environment.

Not too far off, Madara could barely hear the flowing water of a river. He decided he would come look at it another time.

He made note to perhaps change his training location. He usually trained in the ruins of the Uchiha estate, which by all means wasn't appealing to him at all. They were idiots in the first place to arrange a coup. He hadn't planned on their massacre but it didn't faze him either.

The Uchiha began walking towards where Hinata was. She was only about six meters away. As she came into view, Madara felt satisfied. His craving to see her was now going to be satisfied.

He stealthily hid behind a bush just to watch what she was doing. Hinata was graceful as ever as she wrapped a bandage around her hand. The wind gently blew her hair, moving strands of her bangs softly against her forehead. Her hand seemed swollen but he couldn't see much as she had just finished wrapping her palm. Once she rested her hand on her lap, her gaze settled on the grass floor. There was no expression on her face. She only seemed to be deep in thought.

After a couple of seconds, she stood back up and dusted whatever dirt may have been on her pants. With her bandaged hand, she carefully pulled out a kunai from a pouch.

Hinata placed herself in a stance with a firm grip on the weapon. In a matter of seconds, she threw it at the tree in front of her. It went alongside the other kunai that were stuck in the trunk. He noticed her frustration.

No longer bothering to hide himself, he came forward from the bushes.

Immediately, the Byakugan Princess turned around with a panicked expression shrouding her face.

"Madara-san," she gasped, "w-why are you here?"

"I was looking for you."

"Me?"

"I just wanted your presence."

Unsure of how to respond, she stayed quiet. She shifted nervously as she felt his gaze. She was worried about his intentions as he was not one to be trusted– a villain who treated her strangely.

"I'm not your entertainment," Hinata bravely mumbled.

"I never said you were," he responded with a cold tone.

 _Be careful Hinata. You're no longer in public, you're all alone with him. Play your cards safely._

The Hyuga took a deep breath and motioned her head towards her target.

"I'm not sure if you've n-noticed but I'm in dire need of practice. Are you any good?" Hinata asked before tossing Madara a kunai.

It was a stupid question but she needed to make a conversation. She also risked a lot by handing him a weapon he could possibly use against her. An easy escape was not an option, she could only hope he'll get bored and leave.

He examined the kunai for a few seconds before effortlessly throwing it at the target. It hit the exact center. He made it seem so easy.

"You're too stiff," he commented.

Still in awe by the precise accuracy of his throw, she turned to him.

"W-What do you mean?" She asked.

"When you throw, you're too stiff. You can have great form but if your movements aren't fluid then it's just a waste of time. Loosen your arm and let it guide your weapon. This is a basic rule, you shouldn't be making this mistake at the age of 17."

She should've wondered how he knew about her struggle but she didn't care. He was a powerful ninja giving her a tip and she planned to make use of it.

She pulled out another kunai from her pouch and held it gently. She positioned herself into the correct stance and before she threw the kunai, she took a deep breath. Feeling her body relax, she pulled her arm back and swung it forward, letting her arm guide it with ease.

It landed an inch away from Madara's kunai. It was the closest she had been from the target that day.

"It could use some adjustments but that was an improvement," Madara noted. He wasn't surprised how well Hinata adjusted to his advice. He didn't expect any less from a prestigious Hyuga, the head's eldest daughter at that.

"That felt way easier than before, how did I not notice that?" She whispered to herself. She was so excited, she nearly forgotten about the Uchiha a couple feet behind her.

"You get easily frustrated don't you?" He asked.

"S-sometimes," she admitted. She calmed down and added some distance between Madara and herself.

"Is this your way of training?"

"Not a-always."

"You train like a genin," he sighed.

Her chest stung a little by his rude comment but she bit her tongue. He was by all means correct. When she trained alone, she always went back to the basics.

"Try throwing it without going into a stance," Madara added.

Without hesitation, Hinata retrieved another kunai from her pouch. She felt her body tense up but decided to not shake it off. She couldn't help but feel intimidated by the man behind her.

Once again she threw the kunai, but this time she missed completely.

"You're still tense."

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Look at me."

Feeling her the color drain from her face, she froze immediately. Her mind began creating scenarios that depicted an awful ending on her part. Was he just coaxing her the whole time so she lowered her guard? How can she escape one of the most powerful men in the Land of Fire? How could she—

"You're too slow, just give me that," Madara huffed as he pulled the kunai out of Hinata's hand. He took a few steps in front of her and continued talking, "I will show you how. It's fairly simple. Just like before, we follow the basic rule. However, like many rules we can bend it to our favor. Loosen your arm and let it guide your weapon."

Madara threw it again and it landed right beside his previously thrown kunai.

Hinata watched and took note. She was still frightened by her thoughts but she was slowly calming down. He only told her to look at him so she could watch his example. She shouldn't have felt guilty for thinking otherwise but she did.

Madara went to retrieve some of the kunais that were stuck in the tree and returned to hand one back to Hinata.

She still couldn't tell what he was thinking. Whatever it was, he kept it well hidden, he gave off no hints.

The Hyuga closed her eyes and took another deep breath. As her eyes opened, she activated her Byakugan. Now relaxed, she pulled back her arm and flung the kunai back to the target. It was nearly dead on.

Madara would continue to hand her a kunai one after the other and retrieve them wordlessly for the next hour. He remained completely nonchalant the whole time. She wished he would have expressed his thoughts but she also enjoyed the silence between the two. The only sound emanating from the field was Hinata's panting.

Flinging her arm the same way each time was putting a strain on it. Eventually with each throw, she winced.

She sat down and allowed herself to catch her breath. She felt her heartbeat synchronize with the throbbing pulse in her arm.

"In time it will get much easier," Madara finally said.

She was too tired to respond and looked to the sky instead. The sky was turning to a beautiful orange color.

 _Father!_

Hinata quickly stood up and shoved all her kunais into her pouch.

Madara watched her sudden outburst and wondered why she was rushing.

"I have to leave, I've spent too much time here. Thank you for today, I feel like I've learned a lot. Farewell Madara-san," Hinata exclaimed before she bowed and ran past him.

She didn't bother to wait for a response, she had no time.

 _I'm so sorry Ko-san, forgive me please. I didn't do this on purpose. I hope I'm not too late._

Carefully jumping through the rooftops, Hinata internally cursed herself. She had been so occupied with her training, she lost track of time. She was supposed to be back home waiting with her people for her father's return. If she hadn't gotten distracted, she would have been home by now.

Hinata nearly slipped on a roof tile but found her balance before she could fall off the building. Her mind was trying to calculate the many ways her father was going to react. She'd be a fool if she thought she wasn't going to get reprimanded. She was taught to never be late.

After a couple of minutes, she saw the Hyuga compound. She saw many rooms lit, meaning that there were many people in the Main house. If she snuck in from the back, she may have been able to get away with her dirty appearance.

She jumped down onto the street and hid from plain sight. Looking both ways, she ran towards the gate of the compound. There was a gate behind the entrance that led to a pathway that surrounded the houses. From there, she'd climb into her bedroom window and change.

"Lady Hinata!" Ko yelled.

Frozen in her tracks, her mind went blank. The plan she had concocted was wiped out in an instant.

"Ko-san I'm so sorry—"

"There's not much time, your father should be arriving in ten minutes. Go get changed quickly," Ko ushered her.

With no clock at the field and her only hint at the time was the sky, she must've mistaken it for a later time. Or maybe her father was just late but whatever the reason, she had been saved.

Running as quickly as her feet could take her, Hinata ran into her room in an instant. She dropped her pouch onto the floor and grabbed a spare change of clothes. It was a lilac colored kimono and black obi. She rushed into the bathroom and stripped herself naked. She didn't bother to scrub her body, she just let the water do the job.

After a couple of minutes she hopped out the bathroom and hurried back to her own room. She changed into her kimono and brushed out some knots out of her hair.

She ran out her room and suddenly stopped, nearly tripping over her own feet. She activated her Byakugan quickly confirming her suspicions. Her father had just arrived. Deactivating it, she ran to the entrance of the compound where Ko was waiting.

"Just in time, Lady Hinata," Ko chuckled. There was a sense of relief in his voice.

"I promised you I wouldn't be out for long," Hinata breathed as she tried to catch her breath.

"Barely, M'Lady."

Hiding a relieved smile, Hinata held her head high.

Coming into view was none other than Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hanabi. They were accompanied by group of jounin, probably the group they were traveling with.

"Onee-san!" The current heiress hollered.

Once she spotted her sister, Hanabi wasted no time to run to her.

Hinata embraced her younger sister as if she were gone for too long. It had only been a couple of weeks but many things had happened since they've left.

Things like Madara's awakening.

"I missed you. How were things on the trip?" Hinata asked.

Pulling away from the hug, Hanabi grumbled, "It was actually quite boring. Father never left me out of his sight. He said I was being too childish but I'm over it. The only fun part was training. Let's have a spar tomorrow?"

Hinata smiled, "Alright."

Steadily approaching the daughters was Hiashi. He was tired and took his time on coming back.

"Good afternoon Hyuga-sama. How was the trip?" Ko questioned as he bowed deeply to the head of the clan.

"It was successful," Hiashi replied.

Hinata bowed as well as her father turned to her.

"Good evening father, I'm glad you have returned safely from your trip."

"I am glad as well," he sighed as he continued to walk past her.

Not only was Hiashi tired, he was awaiting the feast that was being held inside in honor of his return.

 _Tell him some news! Come on now Hinata, he's your father._

Before he took another step, he paused briefly to spare Hinata a glance.

"Your hair is wet," he commented before continuing to walk.

As he disappeared from view, Hinata couldn't help but sigh. She had hoped that he would inquire about her, but he didn't.

"Come on let's go eat," Hanabi happily urged. She went on ahead to the feast, not bothering to wait for her sister.

 _Yes, I'm doing well father. I have actually made plans for myself. I'm going to become a jounin, just as Neji-niisan would've wanted for me. I've been practicing hard so I could make you proud. I promise you'll be so proud of me. I'll try my hardest, I won't fail you another time. You believe me right? You believe in me...right?_

"Lady Hinata," Ko repeated.

Hinata's eyes widened and glanced over at her caretaker.

"Let's go inside and eat," he motioned his head towards the Main house.

Clearing her throat, Hinata nodded with a smile, "Of course. Let's go."

 **A/N: oops this was a super late upload and a little shorter than usual but I think it's good, I enjoyed writing it. Also if you haven't noticed, this story will be slow. There's no rush but I promise not to bore you guys ;) Any questions, comments, thoughts? Feel free to leave it as a review. I do enjoy reading what you guys have to say. Sidenote, thanks to maplelie for suggestions and edits, she is the reason I got this out today so super shoutout to her. Till next time!**


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